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Statistical characterization of the spin Hall magnetoresistance in YIG/Pt heterostructures

Denise Reustlen*, Sebastian Sailler, Davina U. Schmidt, Rony Werner, Richard Schlitz, Michaela Lammel, and Sebastian T. B. Goennenwein†

  • *Contact author: denise.reustlen@uni-konstanz.de
  • †Contact author: sebastian.goennenwein@uni-konstanz.de
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 184427 – Published 7 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/v4qp-5hwg

Abstract

The spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) is widely used to study the interplay between charge and spin currents in bilayers of a magnetic insulator and a normal metal. However, not much is known about the spatial variation of the SMR across the surface of the same sample. In this work, we investigate the statistical distribution of the SMR in hundreds of nominally identical Hall bar structures patterned into prototypical yttrium iron garnet (YIG)/Pt heterostructures. We find a Gaussian-distributed SMR with a narrow standard deviation of approximately 10% of the mean value in each YIG/Pt bilayer studied. However, the variation of the mean SMR between different YIG/Pt samples can be as large as ∼35%, despite nominally identical fabrication conditions. Additionally, we compare the SMR statistics in YIG/Pt heterostructures prepared in-situ (without breaking the vacuum) and ex-situ (with the YIG layer exposed to air before Pt deposition), as well as in CoFeB/Pt. We find the SMR standard deviation to be systematically smaller for in-situ interfaces. We conclude that on a microscopic level, local variations of the interface quality captured by the spin mixing conductance are the most likely origin for the observed SMR amplitude variations.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 184427– Published 7 May, 2026
  • Received 27 November 2025
  • Revised 25 March 2026
  • Accepted 1 April 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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