Determination of orbital relaxation in Ti/Ni heterostructure via orbital pumping

Abstract

Orbital current has attracted significant attention in recent years due to its potential for energy-efficient magnetization control without the need for materials with strong spin-orbit coupling. However, the fundamental mechanisms governing orbital transport remain elusive. In this study, we systematically explore orbital transport in Ti/Ni bilayers through orbital pumping, drawing an analogy to spin pumping. The orbital current is generated and injected into the Ti layer via the microwave-driven orbital dynamics in Ni, facilitated by its strong spin-orbit correlation. We employed thickness-dependent ferromagnetic resonance measurements and angular-dependent inverse orbital Hall effect (IOHE) detection to probe orbital transport in Ti based on the conventional spin-pumping methodology. The observed enhancement in the damping factor indicates an orbital-diffusion length of ∼5.3 ± 3.7 nm, while IOHE-based estimation suggests a value of around 4.0 ± 1.2 nm, which confirms its short orbital-diffusion length. Furthermore, oblique Hanle measurements in the longitudinal configuration reveal an orbital relaxation time of approximately 16 ps. Our results establish that orbital pumping, analogous to the conventional spin-pumping framework, can serve as a robust technique for elucidating orbital transport mechanisms, paving the way for the design of efficient spin-orbitronic devices.