Spin-memory loss induced by bulk spin-orbit coupling at ferromagnet/heavy-metal interfaces

A spin current through a ferromagnet/heavy-metal interface may shrink due to the spin-flip at the interface, resulting in the spin-memory loss. Here, we propose a mechanism of the spin-memory loss. In contrast to other mechanisms based on interfacial spin-orbit coupling, our mechanism is based on the bulk spin-orbit coupling in a heavy metal. We demonstrate that the bulk spin-orbit coupling induces the entanglement between the spin and orbital degrees of freedom and this spin-orbital entanglement can give rise to sizable spin-flip at the interface even when the interfacial spin-orbit coupling is weak. Our mechanism emphasizes crucial roles of the atomic orbital degree of freedom and induces the strong spin-memory loss near band crossing points between bands of different orbital characters.

Automated summary

This study introduces a mechanism of spin-memory loss based on bulk spin-orbit coupling in a heavy metal, which can induce significant spin-flip at the interface through spin-orbital entanglement even with weak interfacial spin-orbit coupling. This mechanism highlights the crucial role of atomic orbital degree of freedom and results in strong spin-memory loss near band crossing points between bands of different orbital characters.