Interface-induced phenomena in magnetism

Published

June 5, 2017

Author(s)

Frances Hellman, Axel Hoffmann, Yaroslav Tserkovnyak, Geoffrey S. Beach, Eric E. Fullerton, C. Leighton, Allan H. MacDonald, Daniel C. Ralph, Dario A. Arena, Hermann A. Duerr, Peter Fischer, Julie Grollier, Joseph P. Heremans, Tomas Jungwirth, alexay V. Kimel, Bert Koopmans, Ilya N. Krivorotov, Steven J. May, Amanda K. Petford-Long, James M. Rondinelli, Nitin Samarth, Ivan K. Schuller, Andrei N. Slavin, Mark D. Stiles, Oleg Tchernyshyov, Andre Thiaville, Barry L. Zink

Abstract

This article reviews static and dynamic interfacial effects in magnetism, focusing in particular on the current explosion in interfacially-driven magnetic effects and phenomena associated with spin-orbit coupling and intrinsic symmetry breaking at interfaces. It provides a historical background and literature survey, but focuses on recent progress on the topic, identifying the most exciting new scientific results and pointing out areas for future research. It starts with an introduction and overview of how basic magnetic properties are affected by interfaces, then turns to charge and spin transport through and near interfaces, and how these can be used to control the properties of the magnetic layer, including spin accumulation, spin currents, spin torque transfer, and spin pumping. An overview is provided to the current state of knowledge and existing review literature on interfacial effects such as exchange bias, exchange spring magnets, spin Hall effect, oxide heterostructures, and topological insulators. The article highlights recent discoveries of interface-induced magnetism and non-collinear spin textures, non-linear dynamics induced by interfaces, and interfacial effects in ultrafast magnetization processes. The intent is to provide a sufficient amount of pedagogical material and background literature, such that graduate students or researchers interested in entering this field can use this article as a reference, and both experts and non-experts can gain an understanding of the current state and future potential of this field.

Citation

Reviews of Modern Physics

Volume

89

Issue

2

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.89.025006

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Keywords

magnetic interface, magnetization dynamics, spin-transfer torque, spin-orbit torque, skyrmion, topological insulator, spin current, Seebeck effect, spin-orbit torque, ultrafast demagnetization, chirality

Citation

Hellman, F. , Hoffmann, A. , Tserkovnyak, Y. , Beach, G. , Fullerton, E. , Leighton, C. , MacDonald, A. , Ralph, D. , Arena, D. , Duerr, H. , Fischer, P. , Grollier, J. , Heremans, J. , Jungwirth, T. , Kimel, A. , Koopmans, B. , Krivorotov, I. , May, S. , Petford-Long, A. , Rondinelli, J. , Samarth, N. , Schuller, I. , Slavin, A. , Stiles, M. , Tchernyshyov, O. , Thiaville, A. and Zink, B. (2017), Interface-induced phenomena in magnetism, Reviews of Modern Physics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.89.025006, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921135 (Accessed October 8, 2025)