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., …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.