2020/04/21 by Satoshi Haku, Haku, Satoshi, Atsushi Ishikawa +9
Chemistry · Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Aerospace engineering #Bilayer #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Coupling (piping) #Engineering #FOS: Physical sciences #Ferromagnetism #Geometry #Magnetic properties of thin films #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Materials science #Mathematics #Membrane #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Metal #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Orbit (dynamics) #Physics #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Rashba effect #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spintronics #Spin–orbit interaction #Surface (topology) #Torque #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2004.09852
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)
arxiv created 2020/04/21 · openalex publication_date 2020/04/21 · arxiv updated 2020/04/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We report the observation of a spin-orbit torque (SOT) originating from the surface Rashba-Edelstein effect. We found that the SOT in a prototypical spin-orbitronic system, a Pt/Co bilayer, can be manipulated by molecular self-assembly on the Pt surface. This evidences that the Rashba spin-orbit coupling at the Pt surface generates a sizable SOT, which has been hidden by the strong bulk and interface spin-orbit coupling. We show that the molecular tuning of the surface Rashba-Edelstein SOT is consistent with density functional theory calculations. These results illustrate the crucial role of the surface spin-orbit coupling in the SOT generation, which alters the landscape of metallic spin-orbitronic devices.