Temperature dependent spin transport properties of platinum inferred from spin Hall magnetoresistance measurements

We study the temperature dependence of the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) in yttrium iron garnet/platinum hybrid structures via magnetization orientation dependent magnetoresistance measurements. Our experiments show a decrease of the SMR magnitude with decreasing temperature. Using the sensitivity of the SMR to the spin transport properties of the normal metal, we interpret our data in terms of a decrease of the spin Hall angle in platinum from 0.11 at room temperature to 0.075 at 10 K, while the spin diffusion length and the spin mixing conductance of the ferrimagnetic insulator/normal metal interface remain almost constant. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.