Magnetic devices articles from across Nature Portfolio

Electrically switching perpendicular magnetized ferromagnets using spin-orbit torques without assisting magnetic fields is a major goal for spintronics. Recently, several works have proposed using out-of-plane spin polarized currents to achieve this, but these rely on antiferromagnetic metals with low Neel temperatures. Here, Wang et al show that such out-of-plane spin polarization driven switching can be achieved using the interface of an antiferromagnetic insulator and a heavy metal.

Klein tunneling is associated with particle-antiparticle pair production across a potential barrier but observing the phenomenon experimentally is challenging. Using analytical and numerical simulations, the authors show how magnetic damping allows for the breakdown of magnonic vacuum and for the creation of particle-antiparticle pairs in non-Hermitian antiferromagnets in strong magnetic fields, which has relevance for chirality-dependent magnonic computing.

A central goal of spintronics is electric control of magnetism. One particularly promising method makes use of spin-orbit torques which arise due to the combination of electric current, and the intrinsic spin-orbit effect in a material. Here, Grezes et al demonstrate non-volatile electrical control of the spin-orbit torque generated at the interface between an oxide and a metal.

When an antiferromagnet is in close proximity to a ferromagnet, the antiferromagnet pins the spins of the ferromagnet, resulting in an exchange bias effect. This effect has been instrumental in the development of a variety of spintronic devices. Here, Haung et al. use pressure to tune the exchange bias effect in all van der Waals heterostructure composed of FePSe₃/Fe₃GeTe₂.

Microwave devices are instrumental in wireless communications. Recently, spintronic-based microwave devices have seen significant interest, with the potential for smaller size, and lower power consumption. Here, Zhu et al demonstrate a spintronic amplifier with record gain, which uses material stacks already employed in industrially fabricated magnetic memories.

Spin torque nano-oscillators (STNOs) have been proposed as the building blocks of Ising machines for solving combinatorial optimization problems. In this study, the authors experimentally demonstrate how the short-range magnetic coupling between a pair of STNOs controls their ability to lock with an external second harmonic signal.