# Strain control of the Neel vector in Mn-based antiferromagnets

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that applying small strains to Mn-based antiferromagnets can effectively rotate their Neel vectors, offering a new method for controlling antiferromagnetic states in spintronic devices.

## Contribution

It reveals strain as an effective mechanism to control the Neel vector in MnX alloys, with quantified efficiency and magnetostriction coefficients comparable to ferromagnets.

## Key findings

- Strain can rotate the Neel vector by 90 degrees in MnX alloys.
- Different materials exhibit in-plane or out-of-plane Neel vector rotation.
- Magnetostriction coefficients are similar to those in ferromagnetic materials.

## Abstract

Control of the Neel vector in antiferromagnetic materials is one of the challenges preventing their use as active device components. Several methods have been investigated such as exchange bias, electric current, and spin injection, but little is known about strain-mediated anisotropy. This study of the antiferromagnetic L10-type MnX alloys MnIr, MnRh, MnNi, MnPd, and MnPt shows that a small amount of strain effectively rotates the direction of the Neel vector by 90 degrees for all of the materials. For MnIr, MnRh, MnNi, and MnPd, the Neel vector rotates within the basal plane. For MnPt, the Neel vector rotates from out-of-plane to in-plane under tensile strain. The effectiveness of strain control is quantified by a metric of efficiency and by direct calculation of the magnetostriction coefficients. The values of the magnetostriction coefficients are comparable with those from ferromagnetic materials. These results indicate that strain is a mechanism that can be exploited for control of the Neel vectors in this family of antiferromagnets.