Magnetic devices articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic tunnel junctions consist of two magnetic layers, separated by a thin insulator. The simplicity belies the industrial importance: magnetic tunnel junctions have a very wide variety of applications in contemporary society. Here, Fu et al present a magnetic tunnel junction composed of single van der Waals magnetic insulator, CrI3, exhibiting remarkably low power consumption.

    • ZhuangEn Fu
    • , Piumi I. Samarawickrama
    •  & Jifa Tian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A spin torque nano-oscillator consists of a free magnetic layer and a reference magnetic layer. Many works have examined the behaviour of droplet solitons in the free magnetic layer. Here, Jiang et al. extend this to pair of droplet solitons, with one in the free layer and one in the reference layer.

    • S. Jiang
    • , S. Chung
    •  & J. Åkerman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin waves in magnetic nanosystems offer a potential platform for wave-based signal processing and computing, with a variety of advantages compared to optical approaches. Herein, the authors demonstrate resonant phase matched generation of second harmonic spin waves, enabling the generation of short wavelength spin waves that are otherwise difficult to directly excite.

    • K. O. Nikolaev
    • , S. R. Lake
    •  & V. E. Demidov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    True amplification of spin waves by spin-orbit torque, which manifests itself by an exponential increase in amplitude with propagation distance, has so far remained elusive. Here, the authors realize amplification using clocked nanoseconds-long spin-orbit torque pulses in magnonic nano-waveguides.

    • H. Merbouche
    • , B. Divinskiy
    •  & V. E. Demidov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fe3GaTe2 is a van der Waals material with a Curie temperature well above room temperature, making it an attractive material for integration into spintronic devices. Here, Kajale et al demonstrate spin-orbit torque induced switching of the magnetization of Fe3GaTe2, above room temperature, using a Pt spin Hall layer.

    • Shivam N. Kajale
    • , Thanh Nguyen
    •  & Deblina Sarkar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charge-to-spin conversion allows for the generation and control of spin polarization via a charge current. Typically, this is done with non-magnetic materials with large spin-orbit interactions such as Platinum. Herein, Dai et al demonstrate an intriguing charge-to-spin mechanism, a magnetic spin Hall effect, in a van der Waals heterostructure.

    • Yudi Dai
    • , Junlin Xiong
    •  & Feng Miao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial spin ices are nanomagnetic metamaterials, whose collective magnetization self-organizes into extended domains. However, controlling when, where and how domains change has proven difficult, yet is crucial for technological applications. Here, Jensen and Strømberg et al. introduce astroid clocking, which enables controlled, stepwise growth and reversal of magnetic domains, using only global fields.

    • Johannes H. Jensen
    • , Anders Strømberg
    •  & Erik Folven

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exceptional points emerge in systems with loss and gain when loss and gain in the system are balanced. Due to the careful balancing involved, they are highly sensitive to perturbations, making them exceptionally useful for sensors and other devices. Here, Wittrock et al observe a variety of complex dynamics associated with exceptional points in coupled spintronic nano-oscillators.

    • Steffen Wittrock
    • , Salvatore Perna
    •  & Vincent Cros

  • Article
    | Open Access

    L. Rocchino et al. experimentally demonstrate a magnetic field effect transistor based on the Weyl semimetal NbP as the active channel material. A gate magnetic field is generated by current flowing in an integrated superconductor NbN. The device operation relies on the extreme magnetoresistance of the NbP.

    • Lorenzo Rocchino
    • , Federico Balduini
    •  & Cezar B. Zota

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Shortening the inter-spin distance is an effective way to enhance magnetic coupling. However, it is typically challenging to change the inter-ion distance in most magnetic systems. Here, Huang et al present a strategy for enhancing magnetic interactions, by confining a molecular magnetic system inside a carbon fullerene cage, leading to enhanced magnetic properties.

    • Chenli Huang
    • , Rong Sun
    •  & Song Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Body area networks represent a wearable technology suitable for applications like virtual reality and health monitoring. Here, the study presents a wireless battery-free channel that works reliably in harsh environments, including underwater. It utilizes stretchable magneto-inductive metamaterials to enable uninterrupted communication.

    • Amirhossein Hajiaghajani
    • , Patrick Rwei
    •  & Peter Tseng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arranging nanomagnets into a two-dimensional lattice provides access to a rich landscape of magnetic behaviours. Control of the interactions between the nanomagnets after fabrication is a challenge. Here, Yun et al demonstrate all-electrical control of magnetic couplings in a two-dimensional array of nanomagnets using ionic gating.

    • Chao Yun
    • , Zhongyu Liang
    •  & Zhaochu Luo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By carefully inducing twists or lattice stacking offsets between two adjacent van der Waals crystals, a superlattice potential can be introduced. This Moire lattice offers an incredibly rich physics, ranging from superconductivity to exotic magnetism, depending on van der Waals materials in question. Here, Du et al. study the magnetic domains in twisted CrI3, and show that despite this domain structure, spin fluctuations are spatially homogenous.

    • Mengqi Huang
    • , Zeliang Sun
    •  & Chunhui Rita Du

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single molecule magnets (SMMs) are molecules with magnetic states separated by an energy barrier. These two (or more) states can serve as basis for quantum information processing, but this requires a detailed understanding of the ligand field of the molecule that forms the SMM. Here, Taran et al use a combination of two experimental techniques, µSQUID and EPR, to precisely measure the higher-order ligand field parameters.

    • Gheorghe Taran
    • , Eufemio Moreno-Pineda
    •  & Wolfgang Wernsdorfer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrically switching perpendicular magnetized ferromagnets using spin-orbit torques without assisting magnetic fields is a major goal for spintronics. Recently, several works have proposed using out-of-plane spin polarized currents to achieve this, but these rely on antiferromagnetic metals with low Neel temperatures. Here, Wang et al show that such out-of-plane spin polarization driven switching can be achieved using the interface of an antiferromagnetic insulator and a heavy metal.

    • Mengxi Wang
    • , Jun Zhou
    •  & Yong Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A central goal of spintronics is electric control of magnetism. One particularly promising method makes use of spin-orbit torques which arise due to the combination of electric current, and the intrinsic spin-orbit effect in a material. Here, Grezes et al demonstrate non-volatile electrical control of the spin-orbit torque generated at the interface between an oxide and a metal.

    • Cécile Grezes
    • , Aurélie Kandazoglou
    •  & Jean-Philippe Attané

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When an antiferromagnet is in close proximity to a ferromagnet, the antiferromagnet pins the spins of the ferromagnet, resulting in an exchange bias effect. This effect has been instrumental in the development of a variety of spintronic devices. Here, Haung et al. use pressure to tune the exchange bias effect in all van der Waals heterostructure composed of FePSe3/Fe3GeTe2.

    • Xinyu Huang
    • , Luman Zhang
    •  & Lei Ye

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microwave devices are instrumental in wireless communications. Recently, spintronic-based microwave devices have seen significant interest, with the potential for smaller size, and lower power consumption. Here, Zhu et al demonstrate a spintronic amplifier with record gain, which uses material stacks already employed in industrially fabricated magnetic memories.

    • Keqiang Zhu
    • , Mario Carpentieri
    •  & Zhongming Zeng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin wave based computing has great promise, offering advantage of low power consumption, aided by the absence of currents and therefore Joule heating. However, the absence of a method of directly storing the information contained in the spin waves represents a significant hurdle. Here, Baumgaertl and Grundler demonstrate the reversal of a nanomagnet via spin waves with small spin wave power requirements.

    • Korbinian Baumgaertl
    •  & Dirk Grundler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There has been much interest in using the probabilistic switching of magnetic tunnel junctions in unconventional computing, but to do so requires a detailed understanding of this switching. Here, Funatsu et al rigorously determine the switching exponents in superparamagnetic tunnel junctions.

    • Takuya Funatsu
    • , Shun Kanai
    •  & Hideo Ohno

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spintronic terahertz (THz) emitters are a class of magnetic heterostructure where femtosecond laser excitations generate THz radiation emission. While they have great potential, electric field control of spintronic emitter remains a challenge. Here, by combining a spintronic emitter with a piezoelectric substrate, Agarwal et al. demonstrate electric field control of THz emission through induced piezostrain.

    • Piyush Agarwal
    • , Lisen Huang
    •  & Ranjan Singh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial spin ice systems offer a promising platform to study the motion of emergent magnetic monopoles, but controlled nucleation of monopoles is challenging. Here the authors demonstrate controlled injection and propagation of emergent monopoles in an artificial spin ice utilizing ferromagnetic defects.

    • Robert Puttock
    • , Ingrid M. Andersen
    •  & Olga Kazakova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electron beam manipulation is important for their application in microscopes, lithography instruments, and colliders. Here the authors report a wafer scale, self-assembled, microcoil electrically-driven magnetic charge particle optic device that can be implemented into different configurations for controlling of electron beams.

    • R. Huber
    • , F. Kern
    •  & A. Lubk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic droplets are a type of non-topological magnetic soliton, which are stabilised and sustained by spin-transfer torques for instance. Without this, they would collapse. Here Ahlberg et al show that by decreasing the applied magnetic field, droplets can be frozen, forming a static nanobubble

    • Martina Ahlberg
    • , Sunjae Chung
    •  & Johan Åkerman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diodes are characterized by mono-directional flow of current, yet this simplicity belies their critical importance in electronics and optics. Here, Strambini et al demonstrate a superconducting quasi-particle equivalent, achieved by the use of a thin ferromagnetic insulator.

    • E. Strambini
    • , M. Spies
    •  & F. Giazotto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrical manipulation of antiferromagnetic order is crucial for future memory devices, but existing switching schemes require a large current density. Here, the authors achieve record low current density switching in FeRh by taking advantage of its antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic phase transition.

    • Hao Wu
    • , Hantao Zhang
    •  & Kang L. Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin-torque nano-oscillators have sparked interest for their potential in neuromorphic computing, however concrete demonstration are limited. Here, Romera et al show how spin-torque nano-oscillators can mutually synchronise and recognize temporal patterns, much like neurons, illustrating their potential for neuromorphic computing.

    • Miguel Romera
    • , Philippe Talatchian
    •  & Julie Grollier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Skyrmions, a kind of topological spin texture, have been considered as having potential for use in spin-based computing. Here, Wang et al. study the local dynamics of skyrmions interacting with pinning sites, demonstrating a skyrmion true random number generator with the magnetic field and spin current as two control parameters.

    • Kang Wang
    • , Yiou Zhang
    •  & Gang Xiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional magnetic semiconductors hold promise for spin- and valleytronic applications. Here, the authors report the realization of light helicity detectors based on graphene/CrI3 van der Waals heterostructures, exhibiting a photocurrent behaviour determined by the magnetic state of CrI3.

    • Xing Cheng
    • , Zhixuan Cheng
    •  & Lun Dai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wave based computing has sparked much interest for neuromorphic computing due to the inherent interconnectedness of such wave based approaches. Here, Papp, Porod and Csaba show how neural networks can be implemented using spin-waves, taking advantage of spin-waves intrinsic non-linearity.

    • Ádám Papp
    • , Wolfgang Porod
    •  & Gyorgy Csaba

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A major challenge in magnon based approaches to information processing lies in developing valves to allow or supress the magnon signal. Here, Chen et al demonstrate a van der Waals magnet based magnon valve which can be tuned electrically over an exceptionally wide range.

    • Guangyi Chen
    • , Shaomian Qi
    •  & Jian-Hao Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It remains challenging to integrate topological insulators (TI) with magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) for spintronics applications. Here, the authors achieve a large tunneling magnetoresistance ratio and a low switching current density in a TI-MTJ device at room temperature, very promising for TI-driven magnetic memory.

    • Hao Wu
    • , Aitian Chen
    •  & Kang L. Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Assembling nanoparticles on surfaces has great technological potential. Here, Tierno et al demonstrate the confinement of magnetic nanoparticles in traps created by magnetic domain walls. The magnetic gradient and location of the domain walls can be finely tuned, allowing for precise control of the constituent nanoparticles.

    • Pietro Tierno
    • , Tom H. Johansen
    •  & Arthur V. Straube

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synthetic anti-ferromagnets, where two ferromagnetic layers are coupled anti-ferromagnetically via a spacer, are known for their very large current-induced domain wall velocities. Here, Guan et al show that the velocity of the domain walls in synthetic anti-ferromagnetic nanowires can be tuned over a wide range due to reversible oxidization via ionic liquid gating.

    • Yicheng Guan
    • , Xilin Zhou
    •  & Stuart S. P. Parkin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Skyrmions - nanoscale, topological spin textures - are promising elements for next-generation computing due to their efficient coupling to currents in racetrack devices. Here, Tan et al. examine over 20,000 instances of current induced skyrmion motion to unveil a comprehensive picture of skyrmion dynamics across currents and fields.

    • Anthony K. C. Tan
    • , Pin Ho
    •  & Anjan Soumyanarayanan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin torque oscillators (STOs) are attractive potential alternative for many high frequency applications, due to their small area and CMOS compatibility. Here, Sharma et al succeed in the electrical synchronization of four STOs, and use their setup to demonstrate wireless and battery-free energy harvesting using eight STOs.

    • Raghav Sharma
    • , Rahul Mishra
    •  & Hyunsoo Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Compared to electromagnetic waves, the wavelength of spin waves is significantly shorter at gigahertz frequencies, enabling the miniaturisation of wave-based devices. Here, the authors present a magnonic Fabry-Pérot resonator allowing for nanoscale and reconfigurable manipulation of spin waves.

    • Huajun Qin
    • , Rasmus B. Holländer
    •  & Sebastiaan van Dijken

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin Hall nano-oscillators can be tuned via magnetic fields and the drive current, but individual oscillator control in large arrays remains a challenge. Here, the authors provide individual control of the threshold current and the auto-oscillation frequency by voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy.

    • Himanshu Fulara
    • , Mohammad Zahedinejad
    •  & Johan Åkerman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Antiferromagnetic materials are potentially useful for spintronic applications. Here, the authors report high thermoelectric power value of 390 μV/K Seebeck coefficient in IrMn-based half magnetic tunnel junctions at room temperature.

    • Sa Tu
    • , Timothy Ziman
    •  & Haiming Yu

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Skyrmions in chiral magnets are a particle-like texture that has been attracting growing interest due to their novel dynamics and possible applications. Here, we discuss the role of disorder and skyrmion-skyrmion interaction in governing their motion under an external drive.

    • C. Reichhardt
    •  & C. J. O. Reichhardt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling chaotic behavior in spintronic devices is promising for signal-processing applications. Here, the authors unveil the symbolic patterns hidden in the magnetization dynamics of a nanocontact vortex oscillator and detail how to control chaos complexity with a single experimental parameter.

    • Myoung-Woo Yoo
    • , Damien Rontani
    •  & Joo-Von Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic skyrmions are promising objects for future spintronic devices. However, a better understanding of their dynamics is required. Here, the authors show that in contrast to predictions the skyrmion Hall angle is independent of their diameter and motion is dominated by disorder and skyrmion-skyrmion interactions in the system.

    • Katharina Zeissler
    • , Simone Finizio
    •  & Christopher H. Marrows

Browse broader subjects

Browse Magnetic devices across other nature.com journals