Jun-ichiro Ohe

Bio: Jun-ichiro Ohe is an academic researcher from Toho University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Spin polarization & Spin Hall effect. The author has an hindex of 21, co-authored 80 publications receiving 3948 citations. Previous affiliations of Jun-ichiro Ohe include University of Hamburg & Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

Transmission of electrical signals by spin-wave interconversion in a magnetic insulator

Abstract: An insulator does not conduct electricity, and so cannot in general be used to transmit an electrical signal. However, the electrons within an insulator possess spin as well as charge, so it is possible for them to transmit a signal in the form of a spin wave. Kajiwara et al. have now developed a hybrid metal–insulator–metal structure in which an electrical signal in one metal layer is directly converted to a spin wave in the insulating layer. This wave is then transmitted to the second metal layer, where the signal can be directly recovered as an electrical voltage. The observation of voltage transmission in an insulator raises the prospect of insulator-based spintronics and other novel forms of signal delivery. An insulator does not conduct electricity, and so cannot in general be used to transmit an electrical signal. But an insulator's electrons possess spin in addition to charge, and so can transmit a signal in the form of a spin wave. Here a hybrid metal–insulator–metal structure is reported, in which an electrical signal in one metal layer is directly converted to a spin wave in the insulating layer; this wave is then transmitted to the second metal layer, where the signal can be directly recovered as an electrical voltage. The energy bandgap of an insulator is large enough to prevent electron excitation and electrical conduction1. But in addition to charge, an electron also has spin2, and the collective motion of spin can propagate—and so transfer a signal—in some insulators3. This motion is called a spin wave and is usually excited using magnetic fields. Here we show that a spin wave in an insulator can be generated and detected using spin-Hall effects, which enable the direct conversion of an electric signal into a spin wave, and its subsequent transmission through (and recovery from) an insulator over macroscopic distances. First, we show evidence for the transfer of spin angular momentum between an insulator magnet Y3Fe5O12 and a platinum film. This transfer allows direct conversion of an electric current in the platinum film to a spin wave in the Y3Fe5O12 via spin-Hall effects4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. Second, making use of the transfer in a Pt/Y3Fe5O12/Pt system, we demonstrate that an electric current in one metal film induces voltage in the other, far distant, metal film. Specifically, the applied electric current is converted into spin angular momentum owing to the spin-Hall effect7,8,10,11 in the first platinum film; the angular momentum is then carried by a spin wave in the insulating Y3Fe5O12 layer; at the distant platinum film, the spin angular momentum of the spin wave is converted back to an electric voltage. This effect can be switched on and off using a magnetic field. Weak spin damping3 in Y3Fe5O12 is responsible for its transparency for the transmission of spin angular momentum. This hybrid electrical transmission method potentially offers a means of innovative signal delivery in electrical circuits and devices.

Spin Seebeck insulator.

Abstract: Thermoelectric generation is an essential function in future energy-saving technologies. However, it has so far been an exclusive feature of electric conductors, a situation which limits its application; conduction electrons are often problematic in the thermal design of devices. Here we report electric voltage generation from heat flowing in an insulator. We reveal that, despite the absence of conduction electrons, the magnetic insulator LaY(2)Fe(5)O(12) can convert a heat flow into a spin voltage. Attached Pt films can then transform this spin voltage into an electric voltage as a result of the inverse spin Hall effect. The experimental results require us to introduce a thermally activated interface spin exchange between LaY(2)Fe(5)O(12) and Pt. Our findings extend the range of potential materials for thermoelectric applications and provide a crucial piece of information for understanding the physics of the spin Seebeck effect.

Topological chiral magnonic edge mode in a magnonic crystal

Abstract: Topological phases have been explored in various fields in physics such as spintronics, photonics, liquid helium, correlated electron system, and cold-atomic system. This leads to the recent foundation of emerging materials such as topological band insulators, topological photonic crystals, and topological superconductors/superfluid. In this paper, we propose a topological magnonic crystal which provides protected chiral edge modes for magnetostatic spin waves. Based on a linearized Landau-Lifshitz equation, we show that a magnonic crystal with the dipolar interaction acquires a spin-wave volume-mode band with nonzero Chern integer. We argue that such magnonic systems are accompanied by the same integer numbers of chiral spin-wave edge modes within a band gap for the volume-mode bands. In these edge modes, the spin wave propagates in a unidirectional manner without being scattered backward, which implements novel fault-tolerant spintronic devices.

Linear-response theory of spin Seebeck effect in ferromagnetic insulators

Abstract: We formulate a linear response theory of the spin Seebeck effect, i.e., a spin voltage generation from heat current flowing in a ferromagnet. Our approach focuses on the collective magnetic excitation of spins, i.e., magnons. We show that the linear-response formulation provides us with a qualitative as well as quantitative understanding of the spin Seebeck effect observed in a prototypical magnet, yttrium iron garnet.

Chiral spin-wave edge modes in dipolar magnetic thin films

Abstract: Based on a linearized Landau-Lifshitz equation, we show that two-dimensional periodic allay of ferromagnetic particles coupled with magnetic dipole-dipole interactions supports chiral spin-wave edge modes, when subjected under the magnetic field applied perpendicular to the plane. The mode propagates along a one-dimensional boundary of the system in a unidirectional way and it always has a chiral dispersion within a band gap for spin-wave volume modes. Contrary to the well-known Damon-Eshbach surface mode, the sense of the rotation depends not only on the direction of the field but also on the strength of the field; its chiral direction is generally determined by the sum of the so-called Chern integers defined for spin-wave volume modes below the band gap. Using simple tight-binding descriptions, we explain how the magnetic dipolar interaction endows spin-wave volume modes with nonzero Chern integers and how their values will be changed by the field.

Spin-torque switching with the giant spin hall effect of tantalum

Abstract: Spin currents can apply useful torques in spintronic devices. The spin Hall effect has been proposed as a source of spin current, but its modest strength has limited its usefulness. We report a giant spin Hall effect (SHE) in β-tantalum that generates spin currents intense enough to induce efficient spin-torque switching of ferromagnets at room temperature. We quantify this SHE by three independent methods and demonstrate spin-torque switching of both out-of-plane and in-plane magnetized layers. We furthermore implement a three-terminal device that uses current passing through a tantalum-ferromagnet bilayer to switch a nanomagnet, with a magnetic tunnel junction for read-out. This simple, reliable, and efficient design may eliminate the main obstacles to the development of magnetic memory and nonvolatile spin logic technologies.

Topological Photonics

Abstract: Topological photonics is a rapidly emerging field of research in which geometrical and topological ideas are exploited to design and control the behavior of light. Drawing inspiration from the discovery of the quantum Hall effects and topological insulators in condensed matter, recent advances have shown how to engineer analogous effects also for photons, leading to remarkable phenomena such as the robust unidirectional propagation of light, which hold great promise for applications. Thanks to the flexibility and diversity of photonics systems, this field is also opening up new opportunities to realize exotic topological models and to probe and exploit topological effects in new ways. This article reviews experimental and theoretical developments in topological photonics across a wide range of experimental platforms, including photonic crystals, waveguides, metamaterials, cavities, optomechanics, silicon photonics, and circuit QED. A discussion of how changing the dimensionality and symmetries of photonics systems has allowed for the realization of different topological phases is offered, and progress in understanding the interplay of topology with non-Hermitian effects, such as dissipation, is reviewed. As an exciting perspective, topological photonics can be combined with optical nonlinearities, leading toward new collective phenomena and novel strongly correlated states of light, such as an analog of the fractional quantum Hall effect.

Spin Hall effects

Abstract: In solid-state materials with strong relativistic spin-orbit coupling, charge currents generate transverse spin currents. The associated spin Hall and inverse spin Hall effects distinguish between charge and spin current where electron charge is a conserved quantity but its spin direction is not. This review provides a theoretical and experimental treatment of this subfield of spintronics, beginning with distinct microscopic mechanisms seen in ferromagnets and concluding with a discussion of optical-, transport-, and magnetization-dynamics-based experiments closely linked to the microscopic and phenomenological theories presented.

New perspectives for Rashba spin–orbit coupling

Abstract: In 1984, Bychkov and Rashba introduced a simple form of spin-orbit coupling to explain the peculiarities of electron spin resonance in two-dimensional semiconductors. Over the past 30 years, Rashba spin-orbit coupling has inspired a vast number of predictions, discoveries and innovative concepts far beyond semiconductors. The past decade has been particularly creative, with the realizations of manipulating spin orientation by moving electrons in space, controlling electron trajectories using spin as a steering wheel, and the discovery of new topological classes of materials. This progress has reinvigorated the interest of physicists and materials scientists in the development of inversion asymmetric structures, ranging from layered graphene-like materials to cold atoms. This Review discusses relevant recent and ongoing realizations of Rashba physics in condensed matter.

Current-induced switching of perpendicularly magnetized magnetic layers using spin torque from the spin Hall effect.

Abstract: We show that in a perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co bilayer the spin-Hall effect (SHE) in Pt can produce a spin torque strong enough to efficiently rotate and switch the Co magnetization. We calculate the phase diagram of switching driven by this torque, finding quantitative agreement with experiments. When optimized, the SHE torque can enable memory and logic devices with similar critical currents and improved reliability compared to conventional spin-torque switching. We suggest that the SHE torque also affects current-driven magnetic domain wall motion in Pt/ferromagnet bilayers.