Journal
NATURE MATERIALS
Volume 21, Issue 9, Pages 1029-+Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01275-5
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Funding
- Center for Emergent Materials at The Ohio State University
- National Science Foundation (NSF) MRSEC [DMR-2011876]
- NSF
- AGEP-GRS [DMR-1809145]
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research [FA9550-19-1-0307]
- US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's EPiQS Initiative [GBMF9069]
- Center of Emergent Materials, an NSF MRSEC [DMR-2011876]
- German Science Foundation DFG Research Fellowship [WE6480/1, N00014-20-1-2427]
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This paper demonstrates the experimental realization of field-free deterministic magnetic switching using the out-of-plane antidamping spin-orbit torque in the quantum material WTe2, and confirms this phenomenon through numerical simulations. This is of great importance for next-generation spintronic applications.
Spin-orbit torque (SOT)-driven deterministic control of the magnetic state of a ferromagnet with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is key to next-generation spintronic applications including non-volatile, ultrafast and energy-efficient data-storage devices. However, field-free deterministic switching of perpendicular magnetization remains a challenge because it requires an out-of-plane antidamping torque, which is not allowed in conventional spin-source materials such as heavy metals and topological insulators due to the system's symmetry. The exploitation of low-crystal symmetries in emergent quantum materials offers a unique approach to achieve SOTs with unconventional forms. Here we report an experimental realization of field-free deterministic magnetic switching of a perpendicularly polarized van der Waals magnet employing an out-of-plane antidamping SOT generated in layered WTe2, a quantum material with a low-symmetry crystal structure. Our numerical simulations suggest that the out-of-plane antidamping torque in WTe2 is essential to explain the observed magnetization switching. The authors show that an out-of-plane antidamping spin-orbit torque can produce a sizeable change in the switching dynamics of a magnetic layer with perpendicular anisotropy.
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