Spin Hall effect in amorphous YPt alloy

We investigated the spin Hall effect (SHE) in amorphous YPt alloy. In amorphous YPt thin films with various resistivity and thickness, we observed strong sensitivity of the effective spin Hall angle to resistivity, which was found to be governed by the intrinsic mechanism with large intrinsic spin Hall conductivity of 700 100 omega(-1) cm(-1) and the extrinsic side-jump mechanism with opposite polarity. Despite the amorphous nature, the measured spin relaxation length in YPt is 0.9 nm, which is longer than that expected for crystallized Pt-based alloys with the same resistivity. Our results highlight the importance of the intrinsic mechanism to the SHE in amorphous alloys.

Automated summary

The spin Hall effect in amorphous YPt alloy is found to be strongly sensitive to resistivity, governed by both intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms. Despite being amorphous, the spin relaxation length in YPt is longer than expected for crystallized Pt-based alloys with the same resistivity.