Spin-transfer-induced excitations in bilayer magnetic nanopillars at high fields: The effects of contact layers

Current-induced excitations in bilayer magnetic nanopillars have been studied with large magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the layers at low temperature. Junctions investigated all have CuCoCuCoCu as core layer stacks. Two types of such junctions are compared, one with the core stack sandwiched between Pt layers (type A), the other with Pt only on one side of the stack (type B). Transport measurements show that these two types of junctions have similar magnetoresistance and slope of critical current with respect to field, while A samples have higher resistance. The high-field bipolar excitation, as was previously reported [Özyilmaz, Phys. Rev. B 71, 140403(R) (2005)], is present in B samples only. This illustrates the importance of contact layers to spin-current-induced phenomena. This also confirms a recent prediction on such spin-wave excitations in bilayers. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.