Spintronic devices would greatly benefit from a noncollinear alignment between magnetizations of adjacent ferromagnetic layers for maximum performance and reliability. We demonstrate that such an alignment can be created and controlled by coupling two ferromagnetic layers across a magnetic spacer layer consisting of a nonmagnetic material, Ru, alloyed with a ferromagnetic element, Co. Changing the composition and thickness of the spacer layer enables the control of the relative angle between the magnetizations of the ferromagnetic layers between and . The onset of noncollinear alignment between the ferromagnetic layers coincides with the advent of magnetic order in the spacer layer. This study maps the concentration and thickness ranges of RuCo spacer layers that give rise to noncollinearity between ferromagnetic Co layers. The experimental results are successfully reproduced by simulating our structures with an atomistic model. This model assumes that Co atoms in the RuCo spacer layer have magnetic moments and that neighboring Co atoms are ferromagnetically coupled, while Co atoms separated by one or more Ru atoms are antiferromagnetically coupled.
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28 March 2023
Research Article|
March 23 2023
Controlling the angle between magnetic moments of Co layers in Co|RuCo|Co
Special Collection:
Special Collection Recognizing Women in Applied Physics
Zachary R. Nunn;
Zachary R. Nunn
a)
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft)
1
Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive
, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: zacharyrnunn@gmail.com, jbesler@sfu.ca, sabri.koraltan@univie.ac.at, and egirt@sfu.ca
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Juliana Besler
;
Juliana Besler
a)
(Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive
, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: zacharyrnunn@gmail.com, jbesler@sfu.ca, sabri.koraltan@univie.ac.at, and egirt@sfu.ca
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Pavlo Omelchenko
;
Pavlo Omelchenko
(Writing – review & editing)
1
Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive
, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
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Sabri Koraltan
;
Sabri Koraltan
a)
(Methodology, Software, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
2
Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
, 1090 Vienna, Austria
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: zacharyrnunn@gmail.com, jbesler@sfu.ca, sabri.koraltan@univie.ac.at, and egirt@sfu.ca
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Claas Abert
;
Claas Abert
(Resources, Software, Writing – review & editing)
2
Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
, 1090 Vienna, Austria
3
Research Platform MMM Mathematics-Magnetism-Materials, University of Vienna
, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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Dieter Suess
;
Dieter Suess
(Software, Supervision)
2
Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
, 1090 Vienna, Austria
3
Research Platform MMM Mathematics-Magnetism-Materials, University of Vienna
, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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Erol Girt
Erol Girt
a)
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive
, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: zacharyrnunn@gmail.com, jbesler@sfu.ca, sabri.koraltan@univie.ac.at, and egirt@sfu.ca
Search for other works by this author on:
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: zacharyrnunn@gmail.com, jbesler@sfu.ca, sabri.koraltan@univie.ac.at, and egirt@sfu.ca
Note: This paper is part of the Special Collection Recognizing Women in Applied Physics.
J. Appl. Phys. 133, 123901 (2023)
Article history
Received:
January 03 2023
Accepted:
March 08 2023
Citation
Zachary R. Nunn, Juliana Besler, Pavlo Omelchenko, Sabri Koraltan, Claas Abert, Dieter Suess, Erol Girt; Controlling the angle between magnetic moments of Co layers in Co|RuCo|Co. J. Appl. Phys. 28 March 2023; 133 (12): 123901. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0141180
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