Writing and reading antiferromagnetic Mn<sub>2</sub>Au by Néel spin-orbit torques and large anisotropic magnetoresistance.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29367633.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-017-02780-x and PMC identifier 5783935.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Using antiferromagnets as active elements in spintronics requires the ability to manipulate and read-out the Néel vector orientation. Here we demonstrate for Mn<sub>2</sub>Au, a good conductor with a high ordering temperature suitable for applications, reproducible switching using current pulse generated bulk spin-orbit torques and read-out by magnetoresistance measurements. Reversible and consistent changes of the longitudinal resistance and planar Hall voltage of star-patterned epitaxial Mn<sub>2</sub>Au(001) thin films were generated by pulse current densities of ≃10<sup>7</sup> A/cm<sup>2</sup>. The symmetry of the torques agrees with theoretical predictions and a large read-out magnetoresistance effect of more than ≃6% is reproduced by ab initio transport calculations.