Efficient Spin‐Orbit Torques Enabled by Vanadium‐Induced Orbital Currents for Neuromorphic Computing

Spin‐orbit torque (SOT) provides an efficient electrical pathway for encoding spin states and underpins emerging, ultrafast, and nonvolatile spintronic memories and logic devices. Reducing the switching current density and power consumption remains a central challenge for practical applications. Here, we demonstrate that a light metal, vanadium (V), can serve as an efficient orbital‐current source to substantially enhance SOT efficiency. In V/Pt/CoFeB heterostructures, orbital currents generated in V are effectively converted into spin currents by the spin‐orbit‐active Pt layer, giving rise to enhanced torques acting on the perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB layer. As a result, the critical switching current density and power are reduced by 54% and 27%, respectively, compared with conventional spin current‐dominated Pt/CoFeB structures. Moreover, V/Pt/CoFeB‐based devices further enable neuromorphic computing functionalities, achieving a handwritten digit recognition accuracy of 89%. These results highlight orbital‐current engineering as a viable strategy for realizing low‐power SOT devices and advancing spintronic hardware for neuromorphic computing.