Antiferromagnetic Switching Driven by the Collective Dynamics of a Coexisting Spin Glass

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel mechanism where the collective dynamics of a coexisting spin glass can electrically switch the antiferromagnetic order in Fe$_{1/3+\

Contribution

It introduces a new method of manipulating antiferromagnetic states via spin glass dynamics, expanding the scope of antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Findings

Spin glass and antiferromagnetic order coexist in Fe$_{1/3+\

The collective winding of the spin glass can switch the antiferromagnetic state electrically.

This mechanism enables manipulation of antiferromagnetic textures in complex magnetic materials.

Abstract

The theory behind the electrical switching of antiferromagnets is premised on the existence of a well defined broken symmetry state that can be rotated to encode information. A spin glass is in many ways the antithesis of this state, characterized by an ergodic landscape of nearly degenerate magnetic configurations, choosing to freeze into a distribution of these in a manner that is seemingly bereft of information. In this study, we show that the coexistence of spin glass and antiferromagnetic order allows a novel mechanism to facilitate the switching of the antiferromagnet Fe$_{1/3+\delta}$NbS$_2$, which is rooted in the electrically-stimulated collective winding of the spin glass. The local texture of the spin glass opens an anisotropic channel of interaction that can be used to rotate the equilibrium orientation of the antiferromagnetic state. The use of a spin glass' collective dynamics to electrically manipulate antiferromagnetic spin textures has never been applied before, opening the field of antiferromagnetic spintronics to many more material platforms with complex magnetic textures.