Extreme anti-reflection enhanced magneto-optic Kerr effect microscopy.

Magnetic and spintronic media have offered fundamental scientific subjects and technological applications. Magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) microscopy provides the most accessible platform to study the dynamics of spins, magnetic quasi-particles, and domain walls. However, in the research of nanoscale spin textures and state-of-the-art spintronic devices, optical techniques are generally restricted by the extremely weak magneto-optical activity and diffraction limit.

Spin currents and spin-orbit torques in ferromagnetic trilayers.

Magnetic torques generated through spin-orbit coupling promise energy-efficient spintronic devices. For applications, it is important that these torques switch films with perpendicular magnetizations without an external magnetic field. One suggested approach to enable such switching uses magnetic trilayers in which the torque on the top magnetic layer can be manipulated by changing the magnetization of the bottom layer.

Field-free switching of perpendicular magnetization through spin-orbit torque in antiferromagnet/ferromagnet/oxide structures.

Spin-orbit torques arising from the spin-orbit coupling of non-magnetic heavy metals allow electrical switching of perpendicular magnetization. However, the switching is not purely electrical in laterally homogeneous structures. An extra in-plane magnetic field is indeed required to achieve deterministic switching, and this is detrimental for device applications.