Electrical Detection of Polarity and Chirality of a Magnetic Vortex Using Spin-Motive Force Caused by Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the Rashba spin-motive force generated by a gyroscopic motion of a magnetic vortex in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We show that the Rashba spin-motive force depends on not only the polarity of a vortex core but also the chirality of a vortex. Both polarity and chirality can be simultaneously determined by measuring electric signals. Our finding may be useful to electrically read the information of a magnetic vortex (i.e., polarity and chirality) for device applications, and to estimate the strength of Rashba spin-orbit coupling in a ferromagnet even when it is small. (C) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics