Ultrafast Unidirectional Spin Hall Magnetoresistance Driven by Terahertz Light Field

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2025 Mar 6

PMID 40050261

Authors

Ruslan Salikhov

Igor Ilyakov

Anneke Reinold

Jan-Christoph Deinert

Thales V A G de Oliveira

Alexey Ponomaryov

Gulloo Lal Prajapati

Patrick Pilch

Ahmed Ghalgaoui

Max Koch

Jurgen Fassbender

Jurgen Lindner

Zhe Wang

Sergey Kovalev

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The ultrafast control of magnetisation states in magnetically ordered systems poses significant technological challenges yet is vital for the development of memory devices that operate at picosecond timescales or terahertz (THz) frequencies. Despite considerable efforts achieving convenient ultrafast readout of magnetic states remains an area of active investigation. For practical applications, energy-efficient and cost-effective electrical detection is highly desirable. In this context, unidirectional spin-Hall magnetoresistance (USMR) has been proposed as a straightforward two-terminal geometry for the electrical detection of magnetisation states in magnetic heterostructures. In this work, we demonstrate that USMR is effective at THz frequencies, enabling picosecond time readouts initiated by light fields. We observe ultrafast USMR in various ferromagnet/heavy metal thin film heterostructures via THz second-harmonic generation. Our findings, along with temperature-dependent measurements of USMR, reveal a substantial contribution from electron-magnon spin-flip scattering, highlighting the potential for all-electrical detection of THz magnon modes.

References

Salikhov R, Lysne M, Werner P, Ilyakov I, Schuler M, Oliveira T . Spin-orbit interaction driven terahertz nonlinear dynamics in transition metals. Npj Spintron. 2025; 3(1):3. PMC: 11772253. DOI: 10.1038/s44306-024-00068-7. View

Razdolski I, Alekhin A, Ilin N, Meyburg J, Roddatis V, Diesing D . Nanoscale interface confinement of ultrafast spin transfer torque driving non-uniform spin dynamics. Nat Commun. 2017; 8:15007. PMC: 5399283. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15007. View

Olejnik K, Seifert T, Kaspar Z, Novak V, Wadley P, Campion R . Terahertz electrical writing speed in an antiferromagnetic memory. Sci Adv. 2018; 4(3):eaar3566. PMC: 5938222. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aar3566. View

Avci C, Mendil J, Beach G, Gambardella P . Origins of the Unidirectional Spin Hall Magnetoresistance in Metallic Bilayers. Phys Rev Lett. 2018; 121(8):087207. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.087207. View

Seifert T, Martens U, Radu F, Ribow M, Berritta M, Nadvornik L . Frequency-Independent Terahertz Anomalous Hall Effect in DyCo , Co Fe , and Gd Fe Thin Films from DC to 40 THz. Adv Mater. 2021; 33(14):e2007398. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202007398. View

Zheng Z, Gu Y, Zhang Z, Zhang X, Zhao T, Li H . Coexistence of Magnon-Induced and Rashba-Induced Unidirectional Magnetoresistance in Antiferromagnets. Nano Lett. 2023; 23(14):6378-6385. DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c01082. View

Ilyakov I, Brataas A, Oliveira T, Ponomaryov A, Deinert J, Hellwig O . Efficient ultrafast field-driven spin current generation for spintronic terahertz frequency conversion. Nat Commun. 2023; 14(1):7010. PMC: 10622539. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42845-8. View

Cheng Y, Tang J, Michel J, Chong S, Yang F, Cheng R . Unidirectional Spin Hall Magnetoresistance in Antiferromagnetic Heterostructures. Phys Rev Lett. 2023; 130(8):086703. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.086703. View

Vaidya P, Morley S, van Tol J, Liu Y, Cheng R, Brataas A . Subterahertz spin pumping from an insulating antiferromagnet. Science. 2020; 368(6487):160-165. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz4247. View

10.

Zhang Q, Tao K, Jia C, Xu G, Chai G, Zuo Y . Large unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance in FeNi/Pt/BiSe trilayers by Pt interfacial engineering. Nat Commun. 2024; 15(1):9450. PMC: 11530670. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-53884-0. View

11.

Park J, Ko H, Kim J, Park J, Park S, Jo Y . Temperature dependence of intrinsic and extrinsic contributions to anisotropic magnetoresistance. Sci Rep. 2021; 11(1):20884. PMC: 8536661. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00374-8. View

12.

Freeman R, Zholud A, Dun Z, Zhou H, Urazhdin S . Evidence for Dyakonov-Perel-like Spin Relaxation in Pt. Phys Rev Lett. 2018; 120(6):067204. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.067204. View

13.

Li J, Wilson C, Cheng R, Lohmann M, Kavand M, Yuan W . Spin current from sub-terahertz-generated antiferromagnetic magnons. Nature. 2020; 578(7793):70-74. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-1950-4. View

14.

Gupta K, Wesselink R, Liu R, Yuan Z, Kelly P . Disorder Dependence of Interface Spin Memory Loss. Phys Rev Lett. 2020; 124(8):087702. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.087702. View

15.

Isobe H, Xu S, Fu L . High-frequency rectification via chiral Bloch electrons. Sci Adv. 2020; 6(13):eaay2497. PMC: 7101226. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay2497. View

16.

Kovalev S, Green B, Golz T, Maehrlein S, Stojanovic N, Fisher A . Probing ultra-fast processes with high dynamic range at 4th-generation light sources: Arrival time and intensity binning at unprecedented repetition rates. Struct Dyn. 2017; 4(2):024301. PMC: 5346102. DOI: 10.1063/1.4978042. View

17.

Lv Y, Kally J, Zhang D, Lee J, Jamali M, Samarth N . Unidirectional spin-Hall and Rashba-Edelstein magnetoresistance in topological insulator-ferromagnet layer heterostructures. Nat Commun. 2018; 9(1):111. PMC: 5760711. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02491-3. View

18.

Schellekens A, Kuiper K, de Wit R, Koopmans B . Ultrafast spin-transfer torque driven by femtosecond pulsed-laser excitation. Nat Commun. 2014; 5:4333. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5333. View

19.

Guillet T, Zucchetti C, Barbedienne Q, Marty A, Isella G, Cagnon L . Observation of Large Unidirectional Rashba Magnetoresistance in Ge(111). Phys Rev Lett. 2020; 124(2):027201. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.027201. View

20.

Lloyd-Hughes J, Mosley C, Jones S, Lees M, Chen A, Jia Q . Colossal Terahertz Magnetoresistance at Room Temperature in Epitaxial LaSrMnO Nanocomposites and Single-Phase Thin Films. Nano Lett. 2017; 17(4):2506-2511. DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b00231. View