Tailoring anomalous Hall effect by spin–orbit coupling in epitaxial Au/Fe4N bilayers

Anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is one of the most fascinating topics in condensed matter physics related to spin–orbit coupling (SOC). In this paper, we report on the AHE of high-quality epitaxial Au/Fe4N bilayer films, which were grown by a plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy system. A scaling involving multiple competing scattering mechanisms and a shunting model were adopted to analyze the AHE in detail. Compared with Fe4N single layers and Cu/Fe4N bilayers, the AHE of Au/Fe4N bilayers is dramatically modified by strong SOC of the Au layer. Analysis has shown that aside from extra scatterings from Au atoms that diffused from an Au layer to a Fe4N layer, both spin Hall effect of Au and magnetic proximity effect near the Au/Fe4N interface contribute to the modification of the AHE. Variation of coercivity with the change of current, which could be attributed to spin–orbit torque, implies that the measured AHE is a combination of the AHE of Fe4N and strong SOC of Au.