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Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
Optical spin-orbit torque in heavy metal-ferromagnet heterostructures
Gyung-Min Choi1,2,3, Jung Hyun Oh4, Dong-Kyu Lee4
1Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea. gmchoi@skku.edu.
Abstract:
Spin current generation through the spin-orbit interaction in non-magnetic materials lies at the heart of spintronics. When the generated spin current is injected to a ferromagnet, it produces spin-orbit torque and manipulates magnetization efficiently. Optically generated spin currents are expected to be superior to their electrical counterparts in terms of the manipulation speed. Here we report optical spin-orbit torques in heavy metal/ferromagnet heterostructures. The strong spin-orbit coupling of heavy metals induces photo-excited carriers to be spin-polarized, and their transport from heavy metals to ferromagnets induces a torque on magnetization. Our results demonstrate that heavy metals can generate spin-orbit torque not only electrically but also optically.
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