Direct imaging of antiferromagnetic domains in Mn$_2$Au manipulated by high magnetic fields

TL;DR

This study visualizes and analyzes antiferromagnetic domains in Mn2Au thin films under high magnetic fields, revealing domain size changes and estimating magnetic anisotropy, advancing understanding for AFM spintronics applications.

Contribution

First direct imaging of AFM domains in Mn2Au under high magnetic fields, showing field-induced domain size changes and estimating anisotropy constants.

Findings

AFM domains are about 1 μm in size in as-prepared films.

High magnetic fields (>30 T) increase domain size and reorient Néel vectors.

Domain wall width is below 80 nm, and in-plane anisotropy is estimated between 1 and 17 μeV/f.u.

Abstract

In the field of antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics, information about the N\'eel vector, AFM domain sizes, and spin-flop fields is a prerequisite for device applications but is not available easily. We have investigated AFM domains and spin-flop induced changes of domain patterns in Mn2Au(001) epitaxial thin films by X-ray magnetic linear dichroism photoemission electron microscopy (XMLD-PEEM) using magnetic fields up to 70 T. As-prepared Mn$_2$Au films exhibit AFM domains with an average size $\sim$ 1 $\mu$m. Application of a 30T field, exceeding the spin-flop field, along a magnetocrystalline easy axis, dramatically increases the AFM domain size with N\'eel vectors perpendicular to the applied field direction. The width of N\'eel type domain walls (DW) is below the spatial resolution of the PEEM and therefore can only be estimated from an analysis of the DW profile to be smaller than 80 nm. Furthermore, using the values for the DW width and the spin-flop field, we evaluate an in-plane anisotropy constant ranging between 1 and 17 $\mu$eV/f.u.