All-electrical switching of a topological non-collinear antiferromagnet at room temperature

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates room-temperature all-electrical switching of a non-collinear antiferromagnet, Mn3Sn, using current-induced spin-orbit torques, advancing the potential for practical topological antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Contribution

First demonstration of all-electrical deterministic switching of Mn3Sn at room temperature without external magnetic fields or spin injection.

Findings

Achieved switching with a small current of ~5×10^6 A/cm^2

Observed strong readout signals at room temperature

Identified intrinsic spin-orbit torques as the switching mechanism

Abstract

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 temperature in the Si/SiO2/Mn3Sn/AlOx structure, without external magnetic field and injected spin current. Our simulations reveal that the switching is originated from the current-induced intrinsic non-collinear spin-orbit torques in Mn3Sn itself. Our findings pave the way for the development of topological antiferromagnetic spintronics.