Spin-dependent transport in antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions

P. Merodio (1) , A. Kalitsov (1) , H. Béa (1) , Vincent Baltz (1) , M. Chshiev (1)

1 SPINTEC - SPINtronique et TEchnologie des Composants

We investigate the behaviour of spin transfer torque (STT) and tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) in epitaxial antiferromagnetic-based tunnel junctions using tight binding calculations in the framework of the Keldysh formalism. We find that the STT out-of-plane component exhibits a staggered spatial distribution similar to its in-plane component. This behaviour is specific to the use of a tunnel barrier and significantly differs from the out-of-plane torques reported in previous works using a metallic spacer. Additionally, we show that unlike conventional ferromagnetic-based tunnel junctions, the TMR can increase with applied bias and reach values comparable to typical magnetoresistances found for usual spin valves.

Domaines: Matière Condensée [cond-mat]

P. Merodio, A. Kalitsov, H. Béa, Vincent Baltz, M. Chshiev. Spin-dependent transport in antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions. Applied Physics Letters, 2014, 105, pp.122403. ⟨10.1063/1.4896291⟩. ⟨hal-01683647⟩