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Title: Moderate positive spin Hall angle in uranium

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4936999· OSTI ID:22486193
; ;  [1]
  1. H. H. Will Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol BS2 8BS (United Kingdom)

We report measurements of spin pumping and the inverse spin Hall effect in Ni{sub 80}Fe{sub 20}/uranium bilayers designed to study the efficiency of spin-charge interconversion in a super-heavy element. We employ broad-band ferromagnetic resonance on extended films to inject a spin current from the Ni{sub 80}Fe{sub 20} (permalloy) into the uranium layer, which is then converted into an electric field by the inverse spin Hall effect. Surprisingly, our results suggest a spin mixing conductance of order 2 × 10{sup 19} m{sup −2} and a positive spin Hall angle of 0.004, which are both merely comparable with those of several transition metals. These results thus support the idea that the electronic configuration may be at least as important as the atomic number in governing spin pumping across interfaces and subsequent spin Hall effects. In fact, given that both the magnitude and the sign are unexpected based on trends in d-electron systems, materials with unfilled f-electron orbitals may hold additional exploration avenues for spin physics.

OSTI ID:
22486193
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 23; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English