Picosecond optospintronic tunnel junctions
Luding Wang, Houyi Cheng, Pingzhi Li, Youri L. W. van Hees, Yang Liu, Kaihua Cao, Reinoud Lavrijsen, Xiaoyang Lin, B. Koopmans, Weisheng Zhao
Abstract
Significance Spintronic devices have become promising candidates for next-generation memory architecture. However, state-of-the-art devices, such as perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), are still fundamentally constrained by a subnanosecond speed limitation, which has remained a long-lasting scientific obstacle in the ultrafast spintronics field. The highlight of our work is the demonstration of an optospintronic tunnel junction, an all-optical MTJ device which emerges as a new category of integrated photonic–spintronic memory. We demonstrate 1) laser-induced deterministic and efficient writing by an all-optical approach and electrical readout by tunnel magnetoresistance, 2) writing speed within 10 ps, demonstrated by femtosecond-resolved measurements, and 3) integration with state-of-the-art MTJ performance and a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor-compatible fabrication progress.