Nonlinear Magnetic Orbital Hall Effect Induced by Spin-Orbit Coupling

TL;DR

This paper predicts a second-order nonlinear magnetic orbital Hall effect in antiferromagnets, enabling electrical control of magnetic states and advancing orbitronics through spin-orbit coupling.

Contribution

It introduces a novel nonlinear orbital Hall effect induced by spin-orbit coupling, linking antiferromagnetic spintronics and orbitronics functionalities.

Findings

First-principles calculations predict significant orbital effects in CuMnAs.

The effect is odd in the Neel vector, enabling electric control.

Orbital Berry-curvature dipole mechanism explains the effect.

Abstract

Electrical readout of 180$^\circ$ switching in strictly compensated collinear antiferromagnets remains a major challenge in antiferromagnetic spintronics. Electrical writing of perpendicularly magnetized ferromagnets by out-of-plane orbital torque remains an important challenge in orbitronics. In this work, we propose a second-order nonlinear magnetic orbital Hall effect in the source antiferromagnet as a simultaneous recipe for both difficulties. This orbitronics effect is induced by spin-orbit coupling and is odd in the N\'eel vector, thus is a unique effect that integrates both functionalities via electric control of the N\'eel vector in the source antiferromagnet. Our first-principles calculations in CuMnAs predict significant non-perturbative orbital effects from spin-orbit coupling, with a orbital Berry-curvature dipole mechanism. These findings unveil new possibilities opened by topological antiferromagnetic orbitronics.