Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet
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 perturbatio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41043/ |
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| author | 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. |
| author_facet | 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. |
| author_sort | Saidl, V. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:43:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-41043 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:43:56Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-410432020-05-04T18:31:18Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41043/ Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet 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. 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. Nature Publishing Group 2017-01-09 Article PeerReviewed 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. and Jungwirth, T. (2017) Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet. Nature Photonics, 11 . pp. 91-96. ISSN 1749-4893 Circular dichroism Information storage Nanoscale materials Spintronics http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v11/n2/abs/nphoton.2016.255.html doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.255 doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.255 |
| spellingShingle | Circular dichroism Information storage Nanoscale materials Spintronics 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. Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet |
| title | Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet |
| title_full | Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet |
| title_fullStr | Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet |
| title_full_unstemmed | Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet |
| title_short | Optical determination of the Néel vector in a CuMnAs thin-film antiferromagnet |
| title_sort | optical determination of the néel vector in a cumnas thin-film antiferromagnet |
| topic | Circular dichroism Information storage Nanoscale materials Spintronics |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41043/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41043/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41043/ |