Large spin Hall effect in an amorphous binary alloy

Fritz, Katharina; Wimmer, Sebastian; Ebert, Hubert and Meinert, Markus (2018): Large spin Hall effect in an amorphous binary alloy. In: Physical Review B, Vol. 98, No. 9, 94433

Abstract

We investigate the spin Hall effect of W-Hf thin films, which exhibit a phase transition from a segregated phase mixture to an amorphous alloy below 70% W. The spin Hall angle was determined with a planar harmonic Hall voltage technique. Due to the accompanying jump in resistivity, the spin Hall angle shows a pronounced maximum at the composition of the phase transition. The spin Hall conductivity does, however, reduce from W to Hf with a weak discontinuity across the phase transition. The maximum spin Hall angle of theta(SH) = -0.20 is obtained for amorphous W0.7Hf (0.3). A detailed comparison with spin Hall conductivities calculated from first principles for hcp, fcc, and bcc solid solutions provides valuable insight into the alloying physics of this binary system.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Chemistry and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry
• Subjects: 500 Science > 540 Chemistry
• ISSN: 2469-9950
• Language: English