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The multiple directions of antiferromagnetic spintronics

Nature Physics volume 14, pages 200–203 (2018)Cite this article

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New developments in spintronics based on antiferromagnetic materials show promise for improved fundamental understanding and applications in technology.

Spintronics1,2,3 has revolutionized the field of magnetic recording and it is hoped that it will complement semiconductor-based microelectronics in ‘beyond Moore’s law’ information technologies4. Whether designed for sensing, memory or logic applications, spintronic devices have been traditionally based on ferromagnetic materials. Here we present a brief overview of an emerging subfield of spintronics research in which antiferromagnets take the central role5,6,7,8. We focus on the latest developments, which range from demonstrations of experimental microelectronic memory devices and optical control of antiferromagnetic spins to the interplay of antiferromagnetic spintronics with topological phenomena, noncollinear antiferromagnets, antiferromagnet/ferromagnet interfaces and synthetic antiferromagnets. We illustrate that the envisaged applications of antiferromagnetic spintronics may expand to areas as diverse as terahertz information technologies or artificial neural networks.

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Fig. 1: Experimental antiferromagnetic memory device.

adapted from ref. 15, AIP (a); ref. 19, Macmillan Publishers Ltd (b); and ref. 11, AAAS (c)

Fig. 2: Antiferromagnetic anomalous Hall effect.

adapted from ref. 47, Macmillan Publishers Ltd

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the EU FET Open RIA Grant No. 766566, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Transregional Collaborative Research Center (SFB/TRR) No. 173 SPIN+X, the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic Grant No. 14-37427G, the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic Grant Nos LM2015087 and LNSM-LNSpin, the ERC Synergy Grant No. 610115, and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Grant No. OSR-2015-CRG4-2626.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Praha, Czech Republic

    T. Jungwirth, J. Sinova, X. Marti & J. Wunderlich

  2. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    T. Jungwirth

  3. Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    J. Sinova

  4. Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    A. Manchon

  5. IGS Research, Calle La Coma, Tarragona, Spain

    X. Marti

  6. Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, Cambridge, UK

    J. Wunderlich

  7. Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany

    C. Felser

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Correspondence to T. Jungwirth.

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Jungwirth, T., Sinova, J., Manchon, A. et al. The multiple directions of antiferromagnetic spintronics. Nature Phys 14, 200–203 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0063-6

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