Special Seminar: Wilson Yanez

"Spin dependent phenomena in topological semimetals"

Abstract:

The electrical control of the spin degree of freedom in topological insulators have shown to be promising for low energy dissipation non-volatile memory applications. In this context, we report chargespin interconversion experiments at room temperature on novel families of topological materials such as Dirac and Weyl semimetals. We use molecular beam epitaxy to synthesize Cd3As2, ZrTe2, TaAs and NbAs thin films, combine them with ferromagnets such as NiFe and CrTe2 and show that the spin degree of freedom of topological semimetals can be controlled by electrical means. We use spin pumping and spin torque ferromagnetic resonance to extract the efficiency of the charge-spin interconversion process and show current induced magnetization switching on some of these heterostructures. This makes these new families of topological materials promising candidates for spin orbit torque devices.