Current control of magnetic anisotropy via stress in a ferromagnetic metal waveguide
Abstract
We demonstrate that in-plane charge current can effectively control the spin precession resonance in an Al2O3/CoFeB/Ta heterostructure. Brillouin light scattering was used to detect the ferromagnetic resonance field under microwave excitation of spin waves at fixed frequencies. The current control of spin precession resonance originates from modification of the in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy field Hk, which changes symmetrically with respect to the current direction. Numerical simulation suggests that the anisotropic stress introduced by joule heating plays an important role in controlling Hk. These results provide new insight into current manipulation of magnetic properties and have broad implications for spintronic devices. © 2016 American Physical Society.