Effect of spin diffusion on spin torque in magnetic nanopillars

Abstract

We present systematic magnetoelectronic measurements of magnetic nanopillars with different structures of polarizing magnetic layers. The magnetic reversal at small magnetic field, the onset of magnetic dynamics at larger field, and the magnetoresistance exhibit a significant dependence on the type of the polarizing layer. We performed detailed quantitative modeling showing that the differences can be explained by the effects of spin-dependent electron diffusion.