By combining two independent approaches, inelastic neutron scattering measurements and density functional theory calculations, we study the spin-waves in the high-temperature collinear antiferromagnetic phase (AFM2) of Mn$_5$Si$_3$. We obtain its magnetic ground-state properties and electronic structure. This study allowed us to determine the dominant magnetic exchange interactions and magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the AFM2 phase of Mn$_5$Si$_3$. Moreover, the evolution of the spin excitation spectrum is investigated under the influence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to the anisotropy easy-axis. The low energy magnon modes show a different magnetic field dependence which is a direct consequence of their different precessional nature. Finally, possible effects related to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction are also considered.
Cavity spintronics explores light matter interactions at the interface between spintronic and quantum phenomena. Until now, studies have focused on the hybridization between ferromagnets and cavity photons.In this article, we realize antiferromagnetic cavity-magnon polaritons. The collective spin motion in single hematite crystals (α-Fe2O3) hybridizes with 18 - 45 GHz microwave cavity photons with required specific symmetries. We show theoretically and experimentally that the photon-magnon coupling in the collinear phase is mediated by the dynamical Neel vector and the weak magnetic moment in …
Antiferromagnetic thin films are currently generating considerable excitement for low dissipation magnonics and spintronics. However, while tuneable antiferromagnetic textures form the backbone of functional devices, they are virtually unknown at the submicron scale. Here we image a wide variety of antiferromagnetic spin textures in multiferroic BiFeO3 thin films that can be tuned by strain and manipulated by electric fields through room temperature magnetoelectric coupling. Using piezoresponse force microscopy and scanning NV magnetometry in self-organized ferroelectric patterns of BiFeO3, we…
Antiferromagnetic materials are of great interest for spintronics. Here we present a comprehensive study of the growth, structural characterization, and resulting magnetic properties of thin films of the non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn$_{3}$Ir. Using epitaxial engineering on MgO (001) and Al$_{2}$O$_{3}$ (0001) single crystal substrates, we control the growth of cubic $γ$-Mn$_{3}$Ir in both (001) and (111) crystal orientations, and discuss the optimization of growth conditions to achieve high-quality crystal structures with low surface roughness. Exchange bias is studied in bilayers, with exc…
We report on Cr doping effect in Mn3Sn polycrystalline films with both uniform and modulation doping. It is found that Cr doping with low concentration does not cause notable changes to the structural and magnetic properties of Mn3Sn, but it significantly enhances the anomalous Hall conductivity, particularly for modulation-doped samples at low temperature. A Hall conductivity as high as 184.8 Ω-1 cm-1 is obtained for modulation-doped samples at 50 K, in a sharp contrast to vanishingly small values for undoped samples at the same temperature. We attribute the enhancement to the change of Fermi…
Ferromagnetic spin-valves and tunneling junctions are crucial for spintronics applications and are one of the most fundamental spintronics devices. Motivated by the potential unique advantages of antiferromagnets for spintronics, we theoretically study here junctions built out of non-collinear antiferromagnets. We demonstrate a large and robust magnetoresistance and spin-transfer torque capable of ultrafast switching between parallel and anti-parallel states of the junction. In addition, we show that the non-collinear order results in a spin-transfer torque that is in several key aspects diffe…
We show that the quantum anomalous Hall effect almost always occurs in magnetic topological insulator thin films whenever the top and bottom surface layer magnetizations are parallel, independent of the interior layer magnetization configuration. Using this criteria we identify structures that have a quantum anomalous Hall effect even though they have collinear magnetic structures with no net magnetization, and discuss strategies for realizing these interesting magnetic states experimentally.
We study the magnetic properties of small Mn ring shaped clusters on a Pt(111) surface in the framework of density functional theory. We find that the Mn atoms possess large magnetic moments, of the order of 4uB/atom, and have dominating antiferromagnetic interatomic exchange interactions. A quantum confinement effect within the ring like clusters was found, indicating that even very small clusters can be seen as quantum corrals. The antiferromagnetic exchange couplings lead to collinear magnetic arrangements in simple corrals, as well as complex non-collinear ordering, as vortex-like structur…
Electrical detection of the 180 deg spin reversal, which is the basis of the operation of ferromagnetic memories, is among the outstanding challenges in the research of antiferromagnetic spintronics. Analogous effects to the ferromagnetic giant or tunneling magnetoresistance have not yet been realized in antiferromagnetic multilayers. Anomalous Hall effect (AHE), which has been recently employed for spin reversal detection in non-collinear antiferromagnets, is limited to materials that crystalize in ferromagnetic symmetry groups. Here we demonstrate electrical detection of the 180 deg Néel vec…
The spontaneous Hall effect is usually governed by three conventional mechanisms, such as the Berry curvature, skew scattering and side jump, which widely exist in ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic materials. However, in this work, based on first principle calculations, we predict a giant crystal Hall effect (CHE) in the antiferromagnetic $γ$-FeMn, which can not be understood by the previous three conventional mechanisms and the Hall angle therein can be as large as 18.4% at low temperature. Furthermore, with Boltzmann transport equation and a tight-binding model, we conclude that, the asymme…
We demonstrate theoretically that the thermal Hall effect of magnons in collinear antiferromagnetic insulators is an indicator of magnetic and topological phase transitions in the magnon spectrum. The transversal heat current of magnons caused by a thermal gradient is calculated for an antiferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice. An applied magnetic field drives the system from the antiferromagnetic phase via a spin-flop phase into the field-polarized phase. Besides these magnetic phase transitions we find topological phase transitions within the spin-flop phase. Both types of transitions manifest …
Antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics has emerged as a subfield of spintronics driven by the advantages of antiferromagnets producing no stray fields and exhibiting ultrafast magnetization dynamics. The efficient method to detect an AFM order parameter, known as the Néel vector, by electric means is critical to realize concepts of AFM spintronics. Here, we demonstrate that non-collinear AFM metals, such as Mn3Sn, exhibit a momentum dependent spin polarization which can be exploited in AFM tunnel junctions to detect the Néel vector. Using first-principles calculations based on density functional …
In the non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn$_3$Sn, we compare simultaneous measurements of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) and the magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) through two magnetic phase transitions: the high-temperature paramagnetic/antiferromagnetic phase transition at the Néel temperature ($T_N \approx$420~K), and a lower-temperature incommensurate magnetic ordering at $T_1 \approx$270~K. While both the AHE and MOKE are sensitive to the same underlying symmetries of the antiferromagnetic non-collinear spin order, we find that the transition temperatures measured by these two techniques un…
Spin rectification in a single crystal Fe/Au/Fe sandwich is electrically detected for collinear and non-collinear magnetization and external magnetic field configurations. The line shape, line width and signal polarity are analysed. The spin rectication theory has been much extended by taking the magneto-crystalline anisotropy and shape anisotropy into account, which explained non-collinear resonances and agrees very well with experimental data. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of spin rectification in ferromagnetic metal was demonstrated in this work.
The Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction mediates collinear magnetic interactions via the conduction electrons of a non-magnetic spacer, resulting in a ferro- or antiferromagnetic magnetization in magnetic multilayers. The resulting spin-polarized charge transport effects have found numerous applications. Recently it has been discovered that heavy non-magnetic spacers are able to mediate an indirect magnetic coupling that is non-collinear and chiral. This Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya-enhanced RKKY (DME-RKKY) interaction causes the emergence of a variety of interesting magnetic structures,…
Using first-principles calculations, we study the occurrence of non-collinear magnetic order in monatomic Mn chains. First, we focus on freestanding Mn chains and demonstrate that they exhibit a pronounced non-collinear ground state in a large range of interatomic distances between atoms in the chain. By artificially varying the atomic number of Mn we investigate how the magnetic ground state is influenced by alloying the Mn chains with Fe and Cr. With increasing number of 3d-electrons we find a smooth transition in the magnetic phase space starting from an antiferromagnetic state for pure Cr …
Non-collinear antiferromagnets exhibits richer magneto-transport properties due to the topologically nontrivial spin structure they possess compared to conventional nonmagnetic materials, which allows us to manipulate the charge-spin conversion more freely by taking advantage of the chirality. In this work, we explore the unconventional spin orbit torque of L1$_2$-ordered Mn$_3$Pt with a triangular spin structure. We observed an unconventional spin orbit torque along the $\mathbf{x}$-direction for the (001)-oriented L1$_2$ Mn$_3$Pt, and found that it has a unique sign reversal behavior relativ…
We consider theoretically the impact of Rashba spin-orbit coupling on spin torque oscillators (STOs) in synthetic ferromagnets and antiferromagnets that have either a bulk multilayer or a thin film structure. The synthetic magnets consist of a fixed polarizing layer and two free magnetic layers that interact through the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction. We determine analytically which collinear states along the easy axis that are stable, and establish numerically the phase diagram for when the system is in the STO mode and when collinear configurations are stable, respectively. It is …
We have recently reported that the spin transfer torque switching current density is very sensitive to not only the junction sizes but also the exchange stiffness constants of the free layer according to the micromagnetic simulations. The results are very complicate and far from the macro-spin model because of the non-coherent spin switching processes. The dependence of the switching current density on the junction sizes and the exchange stiffness constants becomes systematic when we employ the non-collinear polarizer layer. It is found that the non-collinear polarizer layer enhances the coher…
We investigate the ground states of antiferromagnetic Mn nanochains on Ni(110) by spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy in combination with theory. While the ferrimagnetic linear trimer experimentally shows the predicted collinear classical ground state, no magnetic contrast was observed for dimers and tetramers where non-collinear structures were expected based on ab-initio theory. This striking observation can be explained by zero-point energy motion for even numbered chains derived within a classical equation of motion leading to non classical ground states. Thus, depending on the pa…
How does magnetism behave when the physical dimension is reduced to the size of nanostructures? The multiplicity of magnetic states in these systems can be very rich, in that their properties depend on the atomic species, the cluster size, shape and symmetry or choice of the substrate. Small variations of the cluster parameters may change the properties dramatically. Research in this field has gained much by the many novel experimental methods and techniques exhibiting atomic resolution. Here I review the ab-initio approach, focusing on recent calculations on magnetic frustration and occurrenc…
We investigated the topological property of magnon bands in the collinear magnetic orders of zigzag and stripy phases for the antiferromagnetic honeycomb lattice and identified Berry curvature and symmetry constraints on the magnon band structure. Different symmetries of both zigzag and stripy phases lead to different topological properties, in particular, the magnon bands of the stripy phase being disentangled with a finite Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) term with non-zero spin Chern number. This is corroborated by calculating the spin Nernst effect. Our study establishes the existence of the non…
There is accelerating interest in developing memory devices using antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials, motivated by the possibility for electrically controlling AFM order via spin-orbit torques, and its read-out via magnetoresistive effects. Recent studies have shown, however, that high current densities create non-magnetic contributions to resistive switching signals in AFM/heavy metal (AFM/HM) bilayers, complicating their interpretation. Here we introduce an experimental protocol to unambiguously distinguish current-induced magnetic and nonmagnetic switching signals in AFM/HM structures, and d…
We present a theory of voltage-induced spin-transfer torques in ballistic non-collinear spin valves. The torkance on one ferromagnetic layer is expressed in terms of scattering coefficients of the whole spin valve, in analogy to the Landauer conductance formula. The theory is applied to Co/Cu/Ni(001)-based systems where long-range oscillations of the Ni-torkance as a function of Ni thickness are predicted. The oscillations represent a novel quantum size effect due to the non-collinear magnetic structure. The oscillatory behavior of the torkance contrasts a thickness-independent trend of the co…
We establish a general formulation for spin current pumped by magnons at the interface between a normal metal and a magnetic insulator, valid for any non-collinear magnetic configuration in the linear spin wave regime. This current is generated by driving the system in a non-equilibrium state, covering setups such as thermal spin injection (spin Seebeck effect) or spin voltage by irradiation of the insulator (spin pumping). We illustrate the formula in the special case of a honeycomb topological ferromagnet, for simplicity, and cover both the spin Seebeck and spin-pumping setups. We show how t…
Non-collinear antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetals, combining the advantages of a zero stray field and ultrafast spin dynamics as well as a large anomalous Hall effect and the chiral anomaly of Weyl fermions, have attracted extensive interests. However, the all-electrical control of such systems at room temperature, a crucial step toward practical applications, has not been reported. Here using a small writing current of around 5*10^{6} A/cm^{2}, we realize the all-electrical current-induced deterministic switching of the non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn3Sn with a strong readout signal at room te…
We report on the formation of topological defects emerging from the cycloidal antiferromagnetic order at the surface of bulk BiFeO$_3$ crystals. Combining reciprocal and real-space magnetic imaging techniques, we first observe, in a single ferroelectric domain, the coexistence of antiferromagnetic domains in which the antiferromagnetic cycloid propagates along different wavevectors. We then show that the direction of these wavevectors is not strictly locked to the preferred crystallographic axes as continuous rotations bridge different wavevectors. At the junctions between the magnetic domains…
We report measurements demonstrating that when the Neel vector of the collinear antiferromagnet RuO2 is appropriately canted relative to the sample plane, the antiferromagnet generates a substantial out of plane damping-like torque. The measurements are in good accord with predictions that when an electric field, E is applied to the spin split band structure of RuO2 it can cause a strong transverse spin current even in the absence of spin-orbit coupling. This produces characteristic changes in all three components of the E induced torque vector as a function of the angle of E relative to the c…
We theoretically investigate a nonlinear spin Hall effect in $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric antiferromagnetic metals, which serve as an efficient spin current generator. We elucidate that an emergent spin-dependent Berry curvature dipole is a microscopic origin of the nonlinear spin Hall effect, which becomes nonzero with neither relativistic spin-orbit coupling, uniform magnetization, nor spin-split band structure. By analyzing a microscopic antiferromagnetic model without spin-orbit coupling for an intuitive understanding of the phenomena, we elucidate essential hopping processes and a condition t…
We propose a concept of non-collinear spin current, whose spin polarization varies in space even in non-magnetic crystals. While it is commonly assumed that the spin polarization of the spin Hall current is uniform, asymmetric local crystal potential generally allows the spin polarization to be non-collinear in space. Based on microscopic considerations we demonstrate that such non-collinear spin Hall currents can be observed for example in layered Kagome Mn$_3$X (X = Ge, Sn) compounds. Moreover, by referring to atomistic spin dynamics simulations we show that non-collinear spin currents can b…
We develop a comprehensive theory for magnetoelectricity in magnetically ordered quasi-2D systems whereby in thermal equilibrium an electric field can induce a magnetization $m$ and a magnetic field can induce a polarization. This effect requires that both space-inversion and time-reversal symmetry are broken. Antiferromagnetic (AFM) order plays a central role in this theory. We define a Néel operator $τ$ such that a nonzero expectation value $\langle τ\rangle$ signals AFM order, in the same way $m$ signals ferromagnetic (FM) order. While $m$ is even under space inversion and odd under time re…
In this article I report about a numerical investigation of nonlinear spin dynamics in a magnetic thin-film, made of Yttrium-Iron-Garnet (YIG). This film is exposed to a small in-plane oriented magnetic field, and strong spin currents. The rich variety of findings encompass dynamic regimes hosting localized, non-propagating solitons, a turbulent chaotic regime, which condenses into a quasi-static phase featuring a non-collinear spin texture. Eventually, at largest spin current, a homogeneously switched state is established.
In a collinear antiferromagnet with easy-axis anisotropy, symmetry guarantees that the spin wave modes are doubly degenerate. The two modes carry opposite spin angular momentum and exhibit opposite chirality. Using a honeycomb antiferromagnet in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, we show that a longitudinal temperature gradient can drive the two modes to opposite transverse directions, realizing a spin Nernst effect of magnons with vanishing thermal Hall current. We find that magnons around the Γ-point and the K-point contribute oppositely to the transverse spin transport, …
Spin-transfer torque and current induced spin dynamics in spin-valve nanopillars with the free magnetic layer located between two magnetic films of fixed magnetic moments is considered theoretically. The spin-transfer torque in the limit of diffusive spin transport is calculated as a function of magnetic configuration. It is shown that non-collinear magnetic configuration of the outermost magnetic layers has a strong influence on the spin torque and spin dynamics of the central free layer. Employing macrospin simulations we make some predictions on the free layer spin dynamics in spin valves c…
A theory of spin-transport in hybrid normal metal - ferromagnetic electronic circuits is developed, taking into account non-collinear spin-accumulation. Spin-transport through resistive elements is described by 4 conductance parameters. Microscopic expression for these conductances are derived in terms of scattering matrices and explicitly calculated for simple models. The circuit theory is applied to 2-terminal and 3-terminal devices attached to ferromagnetic reservoirs.
In the last decades, collinear magnetic insulating systems have emerged as promising energy-saving information carriers. Their elementary collective spin excitations, i.e., magnons, can propagate for long distances bypassing the Joule heating effects that arise from electron scattering in metal-based devices. This tutorial article provides an introduction to theoretical and experimental advances in the study of magnonics in collinear magnetic insulating systems. We start by outlining the quantum theory of spin waves in ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic systems and we discuss their quantum st…
Large magnetoresistance effect controlled by electric field rather than magnetic field or electric current is a preferable routine for designing low power consumption magnetoresistance-based spintronic devices. Here we propose an electric-field controlled antiferromagnetic (AFM) tunnel junction with structure of piezoelectric substrate/Mn3Pt/SrTiO3/Pt operating by the magnetic phase transition (MPT) of antiferromagnet Mn3Pt through its magneto-volume effect. The transport properties of the proposed AFM tunnel junction have been investigated by employing first-principles calculations. Our resul…
We show that the hyperfine mediated dynamics of heavy hole states confined in neutral self- assembled quantum dots leads to a nuclear spin diffusion mechanism. It is found that the oftentimes neglected effective heavy hole hyperfine non-collinear interaction is responsible for the low degree of nuclear spin polarization in neutral quantum dots. Moreover, our results demonstrate that after pumping the nuclear spin state is left in a complex mixed state, from which it is not straightforward to deduce the sign of the Ising-like interactions.
Magnetotransport in arrays of monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles has been studied as a function of annealing temperatures. Charge transport mechanisms change from thermally assisted interparticle tunneling to hopping between Fe-sites within the particle as the interparticle spacing is decreased. Despite this difference, magnetoresistance (MR) as a function of field shows a ubiquitous behavior dominated by non-collinear surface spins. All MR as a function of field can be fitted accurately by a Langevin-like function.
We predict that due to spin-orbit(SO) interaction there is a torque even for the parallel configuration of spin valve structure (F1/2DEG/F2). This torque arises due to spin orbit interaction. We develop a scattering theory for spin density matrix which allows us to study this effect quantitatively. Further we show that the von-Neumann entropy associated with transport of polarization can show non-linear behavior as a function of absolute angle and oscillator behavior as a function of SO interaction strength.
Spin transfer torque in spin valves usually destabilizes one of the collinear configurations (either parallel or antiparallel) and stabilizes the second one. Apart from this, balance of the spin-transfer and damping torques can lead to steady precessional modes. In this letter we show that in some asymmetric nanopillars spin current can destabilize both parallel and antiparallel configurations. As a result, stationary precessional modes can occur at zero magnetic field. The corresponding phase diagram as well as frequencies of the precessional modes have been calculated in the framework of mac…
Local spin magnetization in itinerant non-collinear magnets: The local spin Berry curvature
National Institute for R&D of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies（同位素与分子技术国家研发研究所）；Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS（巴黎萨克雷大学CNRS固体物理实验室）
