Atomically sharp domain walls in an antiferromagnet

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn3535

Authors: Filip Krizek (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) , Sonka Reimers (University of Nottingham; Diamond Light Source) , Zdeněk Kašpar (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Charles University) , Alberto Marmodoro (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) , Jan Michalička (Brno University of Technology) , Ondřej Man (Brno University of Technology) , Alexander Edström (Institut de Ciencia de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC)) , Oliver J. Amin (University of Nottingham) , Kevin W. Edmonds (University of Nottingham) , Richard P. Campion (University of Nottingham) , Francesco Maccherozzi (Diamond Light Source) , Sarnjeet S. Dhesi (Diamond Light Source) , Jan Zubáč (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Charles University) , Domink Kriegner (Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences; Technische Universität Dresden) , Dina Carbone (MAX IV Laboratory) , Jakub Železný (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) , Karel Výborný (nstitute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) , Kamil Olejník (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) , Vít Novák (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republi) , Jan Rusz (Uppsala University) , Juan-Carlos Idrobo (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) , Peter Wadley (University of Nottingham) , Tomas Jungwirth (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Science Advances , VOL 8

State: Published (Approved)
Published: April 2022
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 22437

Abstract: The interest in understanding scaling limits of magnetic textures such as domain walls spans the entire field of magnetism from its physical fundamentals to applications in information technologies. Here, we explore antiferromagnetic CuMnAs in which imaging by x-ray photoemission reveals the presence of magnetic textures down to nanoscale, reaching the detection limit of this established microscopy in antiferromagnets. We achieve atomic resolution by using differential phase-contrast imaging within aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. We identify abrupt domain walls in the antiferromagnetic film corresponding to the Néel order reversal between two neighboring atomic planes. Our work stimulates research of magnetic textures at the ultimate atomic scale and sheds light on electrical and ultrafast optical antiferromagnetic devices with magnetic field–insensitive neuromorphic functionalities.

Diamond Keywords: Antiferromagnetism

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I06-Nanoscience

Added On: 01/04/2022 10:31

Documents:
sciadv.abn3535.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Quantum Materials Physics Magnetism Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Microscopy Spectroscopy Electron Microscopy (EM) PhotoEmmission Electron Microscopy (PEEM) Linear Dichroism (LD) X-ray Magnetic Linear Dichroism (XMLD)