Spin-Glass-Like Behavior and Topological Hall Effect in SrRuO₃/SrIrO₃ Superlattices for Oxide Spintronics Applications

Abstract

The heterostructure interface provides a powerful platform for exploring rich emergent phenomena, such as interfacial superconductivity and nontrivial topological surface states. Here, SrRuO/SrIrO superlattices were epitaxially synthesized. The magnetic and magneto-transport properties of these superlattices were characterized. A broad cusp-type splitting in the zero-field-cooling/field-cooling temperature-dependent magnetization and magnetization relaxation, which follows the modified stretched function model, accompanied by double hysteresis magnetization loops were demonstrated. These physical effects were modulated by the SrIrO layer thickness, which confirms the coexistence of interfacial spin glass and ferromagnetic ordering in the superlattices. In addition, the topological Hall effect was observed at low temperatures, and it is weakened with the increase of the SrIrO layer thickness. These results suggest that a noncoplanar spin texture is generated at the SrRuO/SrIrO interfaces because of the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. This work demonstrates that SrIrO can effectively induce interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in superlattices, which would serve as a mechanism to develop spintronic devices with perovskite oxides.

Reversible manipulation of the magnetic state in SrRuO3 through electric-field controlled proton evolution

“…In particular, both positive and negative THE components can be identified at certain temperatures (e.g., 10 K) In addition, we confirm that the THE is driven by the magnetization reversal process due to the fact that the peak position of THE (H P ) scales nicely with the coercive field (H C ). We note that in previous studies of ultra-thin SrRuO 3 film systems, the THE emerges as the consequence of the enhanced DM interaction, as well as reduced ferromagnetism due to the interface effect 11,16,17 . Similarly, in our system, the ILG induced large proton compositional gradient at the boundary of the ferromagnetic to paramagnetic phase transition would lead to an enhanced DM interaction as well as reduced ferromagnetism, and both favor the emergence of THE.…”

“…Recently, there are also emerging research interests in SrRuO 3 system on its exotic topological spin texture with the reports of the topological Hall effect (THE), which is attributed to the inequivalent interfaces in the studied ultra-thin films 11,13,[16][17][18][19][20] . Furthermore, some recent results demonstrated nicely the electric-field controlled THE in ultrathin SrRuO 3 films through the dielectric and ferroelectric modulations 11,13 , although the resultant effect remains subtle, reminiscent of its electric-field controlled magnetic state.…”

Defect‐Induced Anomalous Transverse Resistivity in an Itinerant Ferromagnetic Oxide

“…Recently, it has been shown that topologically nontrivial spin textures, such as skyrmions, which are stabilized through Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya (DM) interactions induced by broken spatial inversion symmetry, can give rise to additional contributions to Hall resistivity, known as the topological Hall effect . Given the richness of physics underlying behind the topological Hall effect as well as its potential for device applications, materials and artificial structures that exhibit this Hall effect have been intensively explored …”

Topological properties and functionalities in oxide thin films and interfaces

“…The results have demonstrated that high-quality oxide heterointerfaces provide a platform for designing topological spin structures. This type of experiment has been spreading into more bilayers of other oxide combinations and even superlattices [138].…”