title: Magnetization switching in ferromagnets by adsorbed chiral molecules without current or external magnetic field.
abstract: Ferromagnets are commonly magnetized by either external magnetic fields or spin polarized currents. The manipulation of magnetization by spin-current occurs through the spin-transfer-torque effect, which is applied, for example, in modern magnetoresistive random access memory. However, the current density required for the spin-transfer torque is of the order of 1 × 106A·cm-2, or about 1 × 1025electrons s-1cm-2. This relatively high current density significantly affects the devices' structure and performance. Here we demonstrate magnetization switching of ferromagnetic thin layers that is induced solely by adsorption of chiral molecules. In this case, about 1013electrons per cm2are sufficient to induce magnetization reversal. The direction of the magnetization depends on the handedness of the adsorbed chiral molecules. Local magnetization switching is achieved by adsorbing a chiral self-assembled molecular monolayer on a gold-coated ferromagnetic layer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. These results present a simple low-power magnetization mechanism when operating at ambient conditions.
authors.affiliation: Applied Physics Department and the Center for Nano-Science and Nano-Technology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel.
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ben Dor
authors.affiliation: Applied Physics Department and the Center for Nano-Science and Nano-Technology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel.
authors.forename: Shira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yochelis
authors.affiliation: Applied Physics Department and the Center for Nano-Science and Nano-Technology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Radko
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Kiran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vankayala
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Capua
authors.affiliation: IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95120, USA.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capua
authors.affiliation: IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95120, USA.
authors.forename: See-Hun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Magnetic Heterostructures Laboratory, Institute of Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotnikow 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland.
authors.forename: Lech Tomasz
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Baczewski
authors.affiliation: IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95120, USA.|Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale) D-06120, Germany.
authors.forename: Stuart Stephen Papworth
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Parkin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naaman
authors.affiliation: Applied Physics Department and the Center for Nano-Science and Nano-Technology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel.
authors.forename: Yossi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Paltiel