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Unconventional scaling of the orbital Hall effect

Nature Materials volume 24, pages 1749–1755 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Orbital torque is a promising approach for electrically controlling magnetization in spintronic devices. However, unravelling the underlying mechanisms governing the orbital Hall effect (OHE), especially the role of extrinsic scattering and its scaling with conductivity (σxx), is crucial for realizing the full potential of orbital torque in energy-efficient spintronic devices. Here, using SrRuO3 as a model system, we discover an unconventional scaling of orbital Hall conductivity (\({\sigma }_{{\rm{OH}}}\)) with tunable σxx. \({\sigma }_{{\rm{OH}}}\) remains constant at high σxx but exhibits a striking enhancement as σxx decreases, contrasting with spin Hall effect suppression at low σxx. This behaviour underscores the Dyakonov–Perel-like orbital relaxation mechanism as key to unconventional OHE. Leveraging this scaling, we achieve enhanced orbital torque via concurrent increases in orbital Hall conductivity and orbital Hall angle, demonstrating threefold power reduction in spin–orbit torque switching with moderate σxx reduction. Our work highlights the dominant role of extrinsic disorder scattering in unconventional OHE and establishes a transformative paradigm for energy-efficient spintronics.

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Fig. 1: Coexisting OHE and SHE in SRO.
Fig. 2: Characterization of current-induced spin and orbital torques in SRO heterostructures.
Fig. 3: Unconventional scaling of OHE in SRO.
Fig. 4: Energy-efficient magnetization switching via orbital torque in SRO/CoPt heterostructures.

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Data availability

All the data supporting the findings of this study are available in the Article and its Supplementary Information. Further information is available from the corresponding author on request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grants 2024YFA1410200 and 2019YFA0307800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 12174406, U24A6001, 52127803 and 52422112), the Chinese Academy of Sciences Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (grant YSBR-109), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant ZDBS-LY-SLH008), the Ningbo Key Scientific and Technological Project (grant 2022Z094) and the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province of China (grants LR20A040001 and LMS25F040007).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Siyang Peng, Xuan Zheng.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, China

    Siyang Peng, Xuan Zheng, Sheng Li, Bin Lao, Yamin Han, Run-Wei Li & Zhiming Wang

  2. Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Application Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, China

    Siyang Peng, Xuan Zheng, Sheng Li, Bin Lao, Yamin Han, Run-Wei Li & Zhiming Wang

  3. Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou, China

    Siyang Peng

  4. School of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Siyang Peng

  5. National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Zhaoliang Liao

  6. Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Energy Efficient and Custom AI IC, School of Information Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China

    Hongsheng Zheng & Yumeng Yang

  7. Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China

    Tianye Yu, Peitao Liu, Yan Sun & Xing-Qiu Chen

  8. Fert Beijing Research Institute, National Key Lab of Spintronics, School of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    Shouzhong Peng & Weisheng Zhao

  9. Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China

    Run-Wei Li

  10. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhiming Wang

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Contributions

Z.W. and R.-W.L. conceived and designed the research. S.Y.P. fabricated the samples and carried out measurements with the assistance of X.Z., S.L. and B.L. Y.S. carried out theoretical calculations supported by T.Y., P.L. and X.-Q.C. X.Z. and Z.W. wrote the manuscript supported by S.Y.P. Z.W. supervised this study. All authors discussed the results and reviewed the paper.

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Correspondence to Run-Wei Li or Zhiming Wang.

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Nature Materials thanks Hyun-Woo Lee and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Peng, S., Zheng, X., Li, S. et al. Unconventional scaling of the orbital Hall effect. Nat. Mater. 24, 1749–1755 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02326-3

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