Giant spin-related transport phenomena in BiSb topological insulator/ferromagnet bilayers

Novel spin-related phenomena originating from the topological surface states in topological insulator (TIs) have become a very exciting topic in spintronics [1-2]. Exploiting those phenomena in TI/ ferromagnet heterostructures not only opens the pathway to novel spintronic devices but also provides new insights into the large spin-orbit interaction in TIs. Here, we report on various giant spin-related phenomena, including the giant spin Hall effect (SHE), the giant interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI), and the giant unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance (USMR) in BiSb topological insulator-ferromagnet bilayers. We found that BiSb can generate not only a large spin current for ultra-low spin-orbit-torque switching [3], but also a large interfacial DMI for generation of free-field ground-state skyrmions in BiSb/MnGa bilayers even at room temperature [4]. Furthermore, we observed a giant USMR effect up to 1.1% in a BiSb/GaMnAs bilayer [5]. Those giant phenomena can be utilized to significantly improve the performance of SOT-MRAM and skyrmion-based racetrack memories.