Electric control of antiferromagnets

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent progress in electrically controlling and detecting antiferromagnetic moments in thin films, highlighting experimental techniques and potential applications in antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of voltage and current-controlled methods for manipulating antiferromagnetic order in insulating and metallic thin films, including the first portable device demonstration.

Findings

Voltage pulses can switch antiferromagnetic chirality in insulators.

A portable device enables room-temperature electrical switching of antiferromagnets.

Potential for antiferromagnetic memory applications.

Abstract

In the past five years, most of the paradigmatic concepts employed in spintronics have been replicated substituting ferromagnets by antiferromagnets in critical parts of the devices. The numerous research efforts directed to manipulate and probe the magnetic moments in antiferromagnets have been gradually established a new and independent field known as antiferromagnetic spintronics. In this paper, we focus on the electrical control and detection of antiferromagnetic moments at a constant temperature. We address separately the experimental results concerning insulating and metallic thin films as they correspond to voltage and electrical current controlled devices, respectively. First, we present results on the voltage control of antiferromagnetic order in insulating thin films. The experiments show that voltage pulses can switch the chirality of a modulated antiferromagnetic structure. Second, we describe the recent advances in metallic antiferromagnetic systems. We present results obtained with the first USB-operated portable device able to perform the non-volatile electrical current-induced switching of an antiferromagnet combined with magnetoresistive readout at room temperature. We discuss on potential applications that can be realized using antiferromagnetic memory cells.