Quenching of an antiferromagnet into high resistivity states using electrical or ultrashort optical pulses

0544558 - FZÚ 2022 RIV DE eng J - Journal Article
Kašpar, Zdeněk - Surýnek, M. - Zubáč, Jan - Křížek, Filip - Novák, Vít - Campion, R. P. - Woernle, M.S. - Gambardella, P. - Martí, Xavier - Němec, P. - Edmonds, K. W. - Reimers, S. - Amin, O. J. - Maccherozzi, F. - Dhesi, S.S. - Wadley, P. - Wunderlich, Joerg - Olejník, Kamil - Jungwirth, Tomáš
Quenching of an antiferromagnet into high resistivity states using electrical or ultrashort optical pulses.
Nature Electronics. Roč. 4, č. 1 (2021), s. 30-37. ISSN 2520-1131. E-ISSN 2520-1131
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LM2018110; GA MŠMT(CZ) LM2018096; GA ČR(CZ) GX19-28375X
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 766566 - ASPIN
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : antiferromagnets * spintronic devices * antiferromagnetic CuMnAs
OECD category: Condensed matter physics (including formerly solid state physics, supercond.)
Impact factor: 33.255, year: 2021
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00506-4

Antiferromagnets are of potential use in the development of spintronic devices due to their ultrafast dynamics, insensitivity to external magnetic fields and absence of magnetic stray fields. Similar to their ferromagnetic counterparts, antiferromagnets can store information in the orientations of the collective magnetic order vector. However, the readout magnetoresistivity signals in simple antiferromagnetic films are weak, and reorientation of the magnetic order vector via optical excitation has not yet been achieved. Here we report the reversible and reproducible quenching of antiferromagnetic CuMnAs into nano-fragmented domain states using either electrical or ultrashort optical pulses. The changes in the resistivity of the system approach 20% at room temperature, which is comparable to the giant magnetoresistance ratios in ferromagnetic multilayers. We also obtain a signal readout by optical reflectivity.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0321420