Direct Imaging of Current-Induced Antiferromagnetic Switching Revealing a Pure Thermomagnetoelastic Switching Mechanism in NiO

Meer H, Schreiber F, Schmitt C, Ramos R, Saitoh E, Gomonay O, Sinova J, Baldrati L, Klaeui M (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Nano Letters American Chemical Society

Book Volume: 21

Pages Range: 114-119

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03367

Abstract

We unravel the origin of current-induced magnetic switching of insulating antiferromagnet/heavy metal systems. We utilize concurrent transport and magneto-optical measurements to image the switching of antiferromagnetic domains in specially engineered devices of NiO/Pt bilayers. Different electrical pulsing and device geometries reveal different final states of the switching with respect to the current direction. We can explain these through simulations of the temperature-induced strain, and we identify the thermomagnetoelastic switching mechanism combined with thermal excitations as the origin, in which the final state is defined by the strain distributions and heat is required to switch the antiferromagnetic domains. We show that such a potentially very versatile noncontact mechanism can explain the previously reported contradicting observations of the switching final state, which were attributed to spin-orbit torque mechanisms.

Involved external institutions

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU) DE Germany (DE) Tohoku University JP Japan (JP)

How to cite

APA:

Meer, H., Schreiber, F., Schmitt, C., Ramos, R., Saitoh, E., Gomonay, O.,... Klaeui, M. (2021). Direct Imaging of Current-Induced Antiferromagnetic Switching Revealing a Pure Thermomagnetoelastic Switching Mechanism in NiO. Nano Letters, 21(1), 114-119. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03367

MLA:

Meer, Hendrik, et al. "Direct Imaging of Current-Induced Antiferromagnetic Switching Revealing a Pure Thermomagnetoelastic Switching Mechanism in NiO." Nano Letters 21.1 (2021): 114-119.

BibTeX: Download