Topological quantum materials (TQMs) possess abundant and attractive spin physics, and a Weyl semimetal is the representative material because of the generation of spin polarization that is available for spin devices due to its Weyl nature. Meanwhile, a Weyl semimetal allows the other but unexplored spin polarization due to local symmetry breaking. Here, all‐electric spin device operation using a type‐II Weyl semimetal, WTe2, at room temperature is reported. The polarization of spins propagating in the all‐electric device is perpendicular to the WTe2 plane, which is ascribed to local in‐plane symmetry breaking in WTe2, yielding the spin polarization creation of propagating charged carriers, namely, the spin‐polarized state creation from the nonpolarized state. Systematic control experiments unequivocally negate unexpected artifacts, such as the anomalous Hall effect, the anisotropic magnetoresistance, etc. Creation of all‐electric spin devices made of TQMs and their operation at room temperature can pave a new pathway for novel spin devices made of TQMs resilient to thermal fluctuation.
Self-induced spin-orbit torques (SI-SOTs) in ferromagnetic (FM) layers have been overlooked when estimating the spin Hall angle (SHA) of adjacent nonmagnetic (NM) layers. In this work, we observe anomalous sign inversion of the total SOT in the spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance due to the enhanced SI-SOT, and successfully rationalize the sign inversion through a theoretical calculation considering the SHE in both the NM and FM layers. The findings show that using an FM layer whose SHA sign is the same as that of the NM achieves efficient SOT-magnetization switching with the assistance of the SI-SOT. The contribution of the SI-SOT becomes salient for a weakly conductive NM layer, and conventional analyses that do not consider the SI-SOT can overestimate the SHA of the NM layer by a factor of more than 150.
Spin-orbit
torque (SOT) is receiving tremendous attention from
both fundamental and application-oriented aspects. Co2MnGa,
a Weyl ferromagnet that is in a class of topological quantum materials,
possesses cubic-based high structural symmetry, the L21 crystal ordering, which should be incapable of hosting anisotropic
SOT in conventional understanding. Here we show the discovery of a
gigantic anisotropy of self-induced SOT in Co2MnGa. The
magnitude of the SOT is comparable to that of heavy metal/ferromagnet
bilayer systems, despite the high inversion symmetry of the Co2MnGa structure. More surprisingly, a sign inversion of the
self-induced SOT is observed for different crystal axes. This finding
stems from the interplay of the topological nature of the electronic
states and their strong modulation by external strain. Our research
enriches the understanding of the physics of self-induced SOT and
demonstrates a versatile method for tuning SOT efficiencies in a wide
range of materials for topological and spintronic devices.
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