Hallsteinsen, I. | Search NASA

DOE OSTI2021

Uniaxial Néel vector control in perovskite oxide thin films by anisotropic strain engineering

Antiferromagnetic (AF) thin films typically exhibit a multidomain state, and control of the AF Néel vector is challenging, as AF materials are robust to magnetic perturbations. In this paper, uniaxial Néel vector control is demonstrated by relying on anisotropic strain engineering of epitaxial thin films of the prototypical AF material LaFeO 3 (LFO). Orthorhombic (011)- and (101)-oriented DyScO 3 , GdScO 3 , and NdGaO 3 substrates are used to engineer different anisotropic in-plane strain states. The anisotropic in-plane strain stabilizes structurally monodomain monoclinic LFO thin films. The uniaxial Néel vector is found along the tensile strained b axis, contrary to bulk LFO having the Néel vector along the shorter a axis, and no magnetic domains are found. Hence, anisotropic strain engineering is a viable tool for designing unique functional responses, further enabling AF materials for mesoscopic device technology.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2020

Controlling spin current polarization through non-collinear antiferromagnetism

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 Mn 3 GaN, in which the triangular spin structure creates a low magnetic symmetry while maintaining a high crystalline symmetry. We demonstrate that epitaxial Mn 3 GaN/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.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗