Intrinsic Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy Induced <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -Symmetry Dependent Field-Free Switching in Epitaxial Garnet Films
Jintao Ke, Dalin Zhang, L. Z. Bi, Zhuolin Li, Sai Zhou, Pengju Wang, Zhaozhao Zhu, He Bai, Guansong Li, Mo Zhu, Chaoqun Hu, Ying Zhang, Yaowen Liu, Jianwang Cai
Abstract
The electrical control of perpendicular magnetization without the need for external magnetic fields holds significant potential for next-generation spintronic devices. In this Letter, we have identified a 3m-symmetry dependent field-free switching phenomenon in (111)-oriented Tm_{3}Fe_{5}O_{12} single-crystal films capped with a platinum (Pt) layer. We demonstrate that this distinctive property arises due to the spontaneous breaking of mirror symmetry in magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) for (111)-oriented magnetic films with a cubic structure, which results in a local out-of-plane MCA effective field with a 3m-symmetry dependence on the azimuth angle when the magnetization lies in the (111) plane. The observed field-free switching, facilitated by this MCA effective field, is validated by numerical simulations based both on macro-spin model and on micromagnetic theory. Our findings not only underscore the instrumental role of intrinsic MCA in enabling field-free magnetization switching but also enrich the fundamental understanding of the underlying switching dynamics.