Controlling Spin Current Polarization through Non-collinear Antiferromagnetism

Authors

T. Nan, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Camilo X. Quintela, University of Wisconsin-Madison
J. Irwin, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Gautam Gurung, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
D. F. Shao, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
J. Gibbons, Cornell University
Neil Campbell, University of Wisconsin-Madison
K. Song, Korean Institute of Materials Science
Si-Young Choi, Pohang University of Science and Technology
L. Guo, University of Wisconsin-Madison
R. D. Johnson, University of Oxford
P. Manuel, University College London
R. V. Chopdekar, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
I. Hallsteinsen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Thomas Tybell, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
P. J. Ryan, Dublin City University
J.-W. Kim, Argonne National Laboratory
Y. Choi, Argonne National Laboratory
P. G. Radaelli, University of Oxford
D. C. Ralph, Cornell University
Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
M. S. Rzchowski, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Chang-Beom Eom, University of Wisconsin-MadisonFollow

ORCID IDs

Quintela http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9702-687X

Choi http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1648-142X

Manuel http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8845-6576

Chopdekar http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6727-6501

Tybell http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0787-8476

Choi http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5790-3129

Ralph http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3026-0335

Tsymbal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6728-5480

Eom http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8854-1439

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

Nature Communications (2020) 11: 4671

doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17999-4

Comments

Copyright 2020, the authors. Open access

License: CC BY 4.0 International

Abstract

The interconversion of charge and spin currents via spin-Hall effect is essential for spintronics. Energy-efficient and deterministic switching of magnetization can be achieved when spin polarizations of these spin currents are collinear with the magnetization. However, symmetry conditions generally restrict spin polarizations to be orthogonal to both the charge and spin flows. Spin polarizations can deviate from such direction in nonmagnetic materials only when the crystalline symmetry is reduced. Here, we show control of the spin polarization direction by using a non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn₃GaN, in which the triangular spin structure creates a low magnetic symmetry while maintaining a high crystalline symmetry. We demonstrate that epitaxial Mn₃GaN/permalloy heterostructures can generate unconventional spin-orbit torques at room temperature corresponding to out-of-plane and Dresselhaus-like spin polarizations which are forbidden in any sample with two-fold rotational symmetry. Our results demonstrate an approach based on spin-structure design for controlling spin-orbit torque, enabling high-efficient antiferromagnetic spintronics.