Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet

Saidl, V.; N?mec, P.; Wadley, P.; Hills, V.; Campion, R. P.; Nov�k, V.; Edmonds, K. W.; Maccherozzi, F.; Dhesi, S. S.; Gallagher, B. L.; Troj�nek, F.; Kunes, J.; �elezn�, J.; Mal�, P.; Jungwirth, T.

Abstract

Recent breakthroughs in electrical detection and manipulation of antiferromagnets have opened a new avenue in the research of non-volatile spintronic devices.1-10 Antiparallel spin sublattices in antiferromagnets, producing zero dipolar fields, lead to the insensitivity to magnetic field perturbations, multi-level stability, ultrafast spin dynamics and other favorable characteristics which may find utility in fields ranging from magnetic memories to optical signal processing. However, the absence of a net magnetic moment and the ultra-short magnetization dynamics timescales make antiferromagnets notoriously difficult to study by common magnetometers or magnetic resonance techniques. In this paper we demonstrate the experimental determination of the Néel vector in a thin film of antiferromagnetic CuMnAs9,10 which is the prominent material used in the first realization of antiferromagnetic memory chips.10 We employ a femtosecond pump-probe magneto-optical experiment based on magnetic linear dichroism. This table-top optical method is considerably more accessible than the traditionally employed large scale facility techniques like neutron diffraction11 and Xray magnetic dichroism measurements.12-14 This optical technique allows an unambiguous direct determination of the Néel vector orientation in thin antiferromagnetic films utilized in devices directly from measured data without fitting to a theoretical model.

Citation

Saidl, V., Němec, P., Wadley, P., Hills, V., Campion, R. P., Novák, V., Edmonds, K. W., Maccherozzi, F., Dhesi, S. S., Gallagher, B. L., Trojánek, F., Kunes, J., Železný, J., Malý, P., & Jungwirth, T. (2017). Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet. Nature Photonics, 11(2), 91-96. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.255

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 21, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jan 9, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017-02
• Deposit Date: Mar 7, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 7, 2017
• Journal: Nature Photonics
• Print ISSN: 1749-4885
• Electronic ISSN: 1749-4893
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 91-96
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.255
• Keywords: Circular dichroism, Information storage, Nanoscale materials, Spintronics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/841208
• Publisher URL: http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v11/n2/abs/nphoton.2016.255.html
• Additional Information: Received: 5 August 2016; Accepted: 21 November 2016; First Online: 9 January 2017; : The authors declare no competing financial interests.
• Contract Date: Mar 7, 2017