  Spin-orbit torques due to interfacial Rashba and spin Hall effects have been
widely considered as a potentially more efficient approach than the
conventional spin-transfer torque to control the magnetization of ferromagnets.
We report a comprehensive study of spin-orbit torque efficiency in
Ta(O)/Ni81Fe19 bilayers by tuning low-oxidation of \b{eta}-phase tantalum, and
find that the spin Hall angle {\theta}DL increases from ~ -0.18 of the pure
Ta/Py to the maximum value ~ -0.30 of Ta(O)/Py with 7.8% oxidation.
Furthermore, we distinguish the efficiency of the spin-orbit torque generated
by the bulk spin Hall effect and by interfacial Rashba effect, respectively,
via a series of Py/Cu(0-2 nm)/Ta(O) control experiments. The latter has more
than twofold enhancement, and even more significant than that of the former at
the optimum oxidation level. Our results indicate that 65% enhancement of the
efficiency should be related to the modulation of the interfacial Rashba-like
spin-orbit torque due to oxygen-induced orbital hybridization cross the
interface. Our results suggest that the modulation of interfacial coupling via
oxygen-induced orbital hybridization can be an alternative method to boost the
change-spin conversion rate.
