Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

American Institute of Physics, APL Materials, 8(11), 2023

DOI: 10.1063/5.0159557

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Field-free spin-orbit-torque switching of a single ferromagnetic layer with fourfold in-plane magnetic anisotropy

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

We present the observation of field-free spin-orbit-torque (SOT) switching of magnetization in a ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As film with four-fold in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Magnetization switching is demonstrated between two orthogonal in-plane easy axes through planar Hall resistance measurements as a current is scanned in the absence of a magnetic field. The chirality of the switching of the current hysteresis loop is consistent with SOT arising from spin polarization caused by Dresselhaus- and Rashba-type spin-orbit-induced effective magnetic fields in the (Ga,Mn)As film. The chirality of magnetization switching can be reversed either by changing the direction of the initial magnetization or by applying a constant external magnetic field bias. The SOT magnetization switching between two states was consistently repeated by applying sequential current pluses with alternating polarities, indicating the potential for developing a field-free SOT device.