Spin-Torque Switching with the Giant Spin Hall Effect of Tantalum

Liu, Pai, Li, Tseng, Ralph & Buhrman, "Spin-Torque Switching with the Giant Spin Hall Effect of Tantalum" (Science 336, 555-558, 4 May 2012; DOI 10.1126/science.1218197). The abstract reports a giant spin Hall effect in beta-tantalum that generates spin currents intense enough to induce efficient spin-torque switching of ferromagnets at room temperature. The authors quantify the effect by three independent methods, demonstrate switching of both out-of-plane and in-plane magnetized layers, and implement a three-terminal device in which current through a tantalum-ferromagnet bilayer switches a nanomagnet, with a magnetic tunnel junction for read-out. The heavy-metal spin-Hall route to spin-orbit-torque switching, distinct from the interfacial route of the 2011 node.