Two-terminal current-in-plane giant magnetoresistance devices driven by the spin-orbit torque

Abstract

Spin valve effect driven by current-induced spin-orbit torques can help to realize electrically controllable and miniaturized two terminal spintronic devices. Here, we show that in a perpendicularly magnetized Fe1-x1 Tbx1/Pt/ Fe1-x2 Tbx2 spin-valve multilayer, spin currents from dual surfaces of the inserted Pt layer can be used to generate spin torques that can separately switch the adjacent ferrimagnetic Fe1-xTbx layers. In a two-terminal device, we further show that the accompanied parallel and anti-parallel magnetization configurations between the two Fe1-xTbx layers can lead to the observation of the current-in-plane giant magnetoresistance (CIP-GMR). Our results demonstrate that the current-induced spin-orbit torques can be implemented into two-terminal spin-torque devices, which can be electrically read out by the CIP-GMR. The present study could be important for designing miniaturized spintronic devices.