Damping's effect on the magnetodynamics of spin Hall nano-oscillators

Abstract

We study the impact of spin wave damping ($\alpha$) on the auto-oscillation properties of nano-constriction based spin Hall nano-oscillators (SHNOs). The SHNOs are based on a 5 nm Pt layer interfaced to a 5 nm Py$_{100-x-y}$Pt$_{x}$Ag$_{y}$ magnetic layer, where the Pt and Ag contents are co-varied to keep the saturation magnetization constant (within 10 %), while $\alpha$ varies close to a factor of three. We systematically investigate the influence of the Gilbert damping on the magnetodynamics of these SHNOs by means of electrical microwave measurements. Under the condition of a constant field, the threshold current scales with the damping in the magnetic layer. The threshold current as a function of field shows a parabolic-like behavior, which we attribute to the evolution of the spatial profile of the auto-oscillation mode. The signal linewidth is smaller for the high-damping materials in low magnetic fields, although the lowest observed linewidth was measured for the alloy with least damping.