I06-Nanoscience
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Z.
Kašpar
,
M.
Surýnek
,
J.
Zubáč
,
F.
Krizek
,
V.
Novák
,
R. P.
Campion
,
M. S.
Wörnle
,
P.
Gambardella
,
X.
Marti
,
P.
Němec
,
K. W.
Edmonds
,
S.
Reimers
,
O. J.
Amin
,
F.
Maccherozzi
,
S. S.
Dhesi
,
P.
Wadley
,
J.
Wunderlich
,
K.
Olejník
,
T.
Jungwirth
Abstract: Antiferromagnets are of potential use in the development of spintronic devices due to their ultrafast dynamics, insensitivity to external magnetic fields and absence of magnetic stray fields. Similar to their ferromagnetic counterparts, antiferromagnets can store information in the orientations of the collective magnetic order vector. However, the readout magnetoresistivity signals in simple antiferromagnetic films are weak, and reorientation of the magnetic order vector via optical excitation has not yet been achieved. Here we report the reversible and reproducible quenching of antiferromagnetic CuMnAs into nano-fragmented domain states using either electrical or ultrashort optical pulses. The changes in the resistivity of the system approach 20% at room temperature, which is comparable to the giant magnetoresistance ratios in ferromagnetic multilayers. We also obtain a signal readout by optical reflectivity.
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Nov 2020
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I06-Nanoscience
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T.
Janda
,
J.
Godinho
,
T.
Ostatnicky
,
E.
Pfitzner
,
G.
Ulrich
,
A.
Hoehl
,
S.
Reimers
,
Z.
Šobáň
,
T.
Metzger
,
H.
Reichlová
,
V.
Novák
,
R. P.
Campion
,
J.
Heberle
,
P.
Wadley
,
K. W.
Edmonds
,
O. J.
Amin
,
J. S.
Chauhan
,
S. S.
Dhesi
,
F.
Maccherozzi
,
R. M.
Otxoa
,
P. E.
Roy
,
K.
Olejník
,
P.
Němec
,
T.
Jungwirth
,
B.
Kaestner
,
J.
Wunderlich
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[22437, 16376, 20793]
Abstract: Antiferromagnets offer spintronic device characteristics unparalleled in ferromagnets owing to their lack of stray fields, THz spin dynamics, and rich materials landscape. Microscopic imaging of antiferromagnetic domains is one of the key prerequisites for understanding physical principles of the device operation. However, adapting common magnetometry techniques to the dipolar-field-free antiferromagnets has been a major challenge. Here we demonstrate in a collinear antiferromagnet a thermoelectric detection method by combining the magneto-Seebeck effect with local heat gradients generated by scanning far-field or near-field techniques. In a 20-nm epilayer of uniaxial CuMnAs we observe reversible
180
∘
switching of the Néel vector via domain wall displacement, controlled by the polarity of the current pulses. We also image polarity-dependent
90
∘
switching of the Néel vector in a thicker biaxial film, and domain shattering induced at higher pulse amplitudes. The antiferromagnetic domain maps obtained by our laboratory technique are compared to measurements by the established synchrotron-based technique of x-ray photoemission electron microscopy using x-ray magnetic linear dichroism.
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Sep 2020
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I06-Nanoscience
|
Peter
Wadley
,
Sonka
Reimers
,
Michal J.
Grzybowski
,
Carl
Andrews
,
Mu
Wang
,
Jasbinder S.
Chauhan
,
Bryan L.
Gallagher
,
Richard P.
Campion
,
Kevin W.
Edmonds
,
Sarnjeet S.
Dhesi
,
Francesco
Maccherozzi
,
Vit
Novak
,
Joerg
Wunderlich
,
Tomas
Jungwirth
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[16376]
Abstract: Antiferromagnets have several favourable properties as active elements in spintronic devices, including ultra-fast dynamics, zero stray fields and insensitivity to external magnetic fields1. Tetragonal CuMnAs is a testbed system in which the antiferromagnetic order parameter can be switched reversibly at ambient conditions using electrical currents2. In previous experiments, orthogonal in-plane current pulses were used to induce 90° rotations of antiferromagnetic domains and demonstrate the operation of all-electrical memory bits in a multi-terminal geometry3. Here, we demonstrate that antiferromagnetic domain walls can be manipulated to realize stable and reproducible domain changes using only two electrical contacts. This is achieved by using the polarity of the current to switch the sign of the current-induced effective field acting on the antiferromagnetic sublattices. The resulting reversible domain and domain wall reconfigurations are imaged using X-ray magnetic linear dichroism microscopy, and can also be detected electrically. Switching by domain-wall motion can occur at much lower current densities than those needed for coherent domain switching.
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Mar 2018
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I06-Nanoscience
|
P.
Wadley
,
K. W.
Edmonds
,
M. R.
Shahedkhah
,
R. P.
Campion
,
B. L.
Gallagher
,
J.
Železný
,
J.
Kuneš
,
V.
Novák
,
T.
Jungwirth
,
V.
Saidl
,
P.
Němec
,
F.
Maccherozzi
,
S. S.
Dhesi
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[9993]
Open Access
Abstract: Using x-ray magnetic circular and linear dichroism techniques, we demonstrate a collinear exchange coupling between an epitaxial antiferromagnet, tetragonal CuMnAs, and an Fe surface layer. A small uncompensated Mn magnetic moment is observed which is antiparallel to the Fe magnetization. The staggered magnetization of the 5 nm thick CuMnAs layer is rotatable under small magnetic fields, due to the interlayer exchange coupling. This allows us to obtain the x-ray magnetic linear dichroism spectra for different crystalline orientations of CuMnAs in the (001) plane. This is a key parameter for enabling the understanding of domain structures in CuMnAs imaged using x-ray magnetic linear dichroism microscopy techniques.
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Sep 2017
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I06-Nanoscience
|
M. J.
Grzybowski
,
P.
Wadley
,
K. W.
Edmonds
,
R.
Beardsley
,
V.
Hills
,
R. P.
Campion
,
B. L.
Gallagher
,
J. S.
Chauhan
,
V.
Novak
,
T.
Jungwirth
,
F.
Maccherozzi
,
S. S.
Dhesi
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[12504]
Abstract: The magnetic order in antiferromagnetic materials is hard to control with external magnetic fields. Using x-ray magnetic linear dichroism microscopy, we show that staggered effective fields generated by electrical current can induce modification of the antiferromagnetic domain structure in microdevices fabricated from a tetragonal CuMnAs thin film. A clear correlation between the average domain orientation and the anisotropy of the electrical resistance is demonstrated, with both showing reproducible switching in response to orthogonally applied current pulses. However, the behavior is inhomogeneous at the submicron level, highlighting the complex nature of the switching process in multidomain antiferromagnetic films.
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Feb 2017
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I06-Nanoscience
|
V.
Saidl
,
P.
Němec
,
Peter
Wadley
,
Victoria
Hills
,
R. P.
Campion
,
V.
Novák
,
K. W.
Edmonds
,
Francesco
Maccherozzi
,
S. S.
Dhesi
,
B. L.
Gallagher
,
F.
Trojánek
,
J.
Kuneš
,
J.
Železný
,
P.
Malý
,
T.
Jungwirth
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[9993]
Abstract: Recent breakthroughs in the electrical detection and manipulation of antiferromagnets have opened a new avenue in the research of non-volatile spintronic devices. Antiparallel spin sublattices in antiferromagnets, producing zero dipolar fields, lead to insensitivity to magnetic field perturbations, multi-level stability, ultrafast spin dynamics and other favourable characteristics, and may find utility in fields ranging from magnetic memories to optical signal processing. However, the absence of a net magnetic moment and ultrashort magnetization dynamics timescales make antiferromagnets notoriously difficult to study using common magnetometers or magnetic resonance techniques. Here, we demonstrate the experimental determination of the Néel vector in a thin film of antiferromagnetic CuMnAs (refs 9,10), a prominent material used in the first realization of antiferromagnetic memory chips10. We use a table-top femtosecond pump–probe magneto-optical experiment that is considerably more accessible than the traditionally employed large-scale-facility techniques such as neutron diffraction11 and X-ray magnetic dichroism measurements.
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Jan 2017
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I06-Nanoscience
|
P.
Wadley
,
B.
Howells
,
J.
Zelezny
,
C.
Andrews
,
V.
Hills
,
R. P.
Campion
,
V.
Novak
,
K.
Olejnik
,
F.
Maccherozzi
,
S. S.
Dhesi
,
S. Y.
Martin
,
T.
Wagner
,
J.
Wunderlich
,
F.
Freimuth
,
Y.
Mokrousov
,
J.
Kune
,
J. S.
Chauhan
,
M.
Grzybowski
,
A.
Rushforth
,
K.
Edmonds
,
B. L.
Gallagher
,
T
Jungwirth
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[12504]
Abstract: Antiferromagnets are hard to control by external magnetic fields because of the alternating directions of
magnetic moments on individual atoms and the resulting zero net magnetization. However, relativistic
quantum mechanics allows for generating current-induced internal fields whose sign alternates with the
periodicity of the antiferromagnetic lattice. Using these fields, which couple strongly to the
antiferromagnetic order, we demonstrate room-temperature electrical switching between stable
configurations in antiferromagnetic CuMnAs thin film devices by applied current with magnitudes of order
106 Acm−2. Electrical writing is combined in our solid-state memory with electrical readout and the stored
magnetic state is insensitive to and produces no external magnetic field perturbations, which illustrates
the unique merits of antiferromagnets for spintronics.
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Jan 2016
|
|
I06-Nanoscience
|
P.
Wadley
,
V.
Hills
,
M. R.
Shahedkhah
,
K. W.
Edmonds
,
R. P.
Campion
,
V.
Novák
,
B.
Ouladdiaf
,
D.
Khalyavin
,
S.
Langridge
,
V.
Saidl
,
P.
Nemec
,
A. W.
Rushforth
,
B. L.
Gallagher
,
S. S.
Dhesi
,
F.
Maccherozzi
,
J.
Železný
,
T.
Jungwirth
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[9993]
Open Access
Abstract: Tetragonal CuMnAs is an antiferromagnetic material with favourable properties for applications in spintronics. Using a combination of neutron diffraction and x-ray magnetic linear dichroism, we determine the spin axis and magnetic structure in tetragonal CuMnAs, and reveal the presence of an interfacial uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. From the temperature-dependence of the neutron diffraction intensities, the Néel temperature is shown to be (480 ± 5) K. Ab initio calculations indicate a weak anisotropy in the (ab) plane for bulk crystals, with a large anisotropy energy barrier between in-plane and perpendicular-to-plane directions.
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Nov 2015
|
|
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J. V.
Jager
,
A. V.
Scherbakov
,
T. L.
Linnik
,
D. R.
Yakovlev
,
M.
Wang
,
P
Wadley
,
V.
Holy
,
S
Cavill
,
A. V.
Akimov
,
A
Rushforth
,
M.
Bayer
Abstract: Coherent high-amplitude precession of the magnetization and spin waves with frequencies up to 40 GHz are generated by injecting picosecond compressive and shear acoustic pulses into nanometer-sized galfenol (Fe81Ga19) films. The magnetization modulation is due to the picosecond inverse magnetostrictive effect. The oscillations of the magnetization measured by magneto-optical Kerr rotation last for several nanoseconds, and the maximum modulation of the in-plane effective magnetic field is as high as 40 mT. These results in combination with a comprehensive theoretical analysis show that galfenol films possess excellent properties for ultrafast magnetization control based on the picosecond inverse magnetostrictive effect.
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Jul 2013
|
|
I06-Nanoscience
|
D.
Parkes
,
L. R.
Shelford
,
P.
Wadley
,
V.
Holý
,
M.
Wang
,
A.
Hindmarch
,
G.
Van Der Laan
,
R. P.
Campion
,
K.
Edmonds
,
S. A.
Cavill
,
A.
Rushforth
Open Access
Abstract: Multiferroic composite materials, consisting of coupled ferromagnetic and piezoelectric phases, are of great importance in the drive towards creating faster, smaller and more energy efficient devices for information and communications technologies. Such devices require thin ferromagnetic films with large magnetostriction and narrow microwave resonance linewidths. Both properties are often degraded, compared to bulk materials, due to structural imperfections and interface effects in the thin films. We report the development of epitaxial thin films of Galfenol (Fe81Ga19) with magnetostriction as large as the best reported values for bulk material. This allows the magnetic anisotropy and microwave resonant frequency to be tuned by voltage-induced strain, with a larger magnetoelectric response and a narrower linewidth than any previously reported Galfenol thin films. The combination of these properties make epitaxial thin films excellent candidates for developing tunable devices for magnetic information storage, processing and microwave communications.
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Jul 2013
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