Optical Readout of the Néel Vector in the Metallic Antiferromagnet Mn2Au

Vladimir Grigorev; Mariia Filianina; Stanislav Yu Bodnar; Sergei Sobolev; Nilabha Bhattacharjee; Satya Bommanaboyena; Yaryna Lytvynenko; Yurii Skourski; Dirk Fuchs; Mathias Kläui; Martin Jourdan; Jure Demsar

doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.014037

Optical Readout of the Néel Vector in the Metallic Antiferromagnet Mn2Au

Vladimir Grigorev, Mariia Filianina, Stanislav Yu Bodnar, Sergei Sobolev, Nilabha Bhattacharjee, Satya Bommanaboyena, Yaryna Lytvynenko, Yurii Skourski, Dirk Fuchs, Mathias Kläui, Martin Jourdan, Jure Demsar

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15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Metallic antiferromagnets with broken inversion symmetry on the two sublattices, strong spin-orbit coupling, and high Néel temperatures offer alternative opportunities for applications in spintronics. Especially Mn2Au, with a high Néel temperature and high conductivity, is particularly interesting for real-world applications. Here, manipulation of the orientation of the staggered magnetization, (i.e., the Néel vector) by current pulses was recently demonstrated, with the readout limited to studies of anisotropic magnetoresistance or x-ray magnetic linear dichroism. Here we report on the in-plane reflectivity anisotropy of Mn2Au(001) films, which are Néel vector aligned in pulsed magnetic fields. In the near-infrared region, the anisotropy is approximately 0.6%, with higher reflectivity for the light polarized along the Néel vector. The observed magnetic linear dichroism is about 4 times larger than the anisotropic magnetoresistance. This suggests the dichroism in Mn2Au is a result of the strong spin-orbit interactions giving rise to anisotropy of interband optical transitions, which is in line with recent studies of electronic band structure. The considerable magnetic linear dichroism in the near-infrared region could be used for ultrafast optical readout of the Néel vector in Mn2Au.

Original language	English (US)
Journal	Physical Review Applied
Volume	16
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.014037
State	Published - Jul 15 2021
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-08-19
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): OSR-2019-CRG8-4048
Acknowledgements: This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant No. TRR 173 268565370 (Project A05, with additional contributions from A01). It received support from the Horizon 2020 framework program of the European Commission under Grant Agreement No. 863155 (S-NEBULA) and KAUST (OSR-2019-CRG8-4048). V.G. and M.F. acknowledge financial support from the Graduate School of Excellence “Materials Science in Mainz” (DFG Grant No. GSC 266 49741853). We acknowledge the Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland, for the beamtime allocation under proposal 20200977 at the SIM beamline of the Swiss Light Source. We thank the SIM beamline staff for technical support. We acknowledge valuable discussions with H.-J. Elmers, H. Gomonay, P. Grigorev, and L. Šmejkal.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.014037

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title = "Optical Readout of the N{\'e}el Vector in the Metallic Antiferromagnet Mn2Au",

abstract = "Metallic antiferromagnets with broken inversion symmetry on the two sublattices, strong spin-orbit coupling, and high N{\'e}el temperatures offer alternative opportunities for applications in spintronics. Especially Mn2Au, with a high N{\'e}el temperature and high conductivity, is particularly interesting for real-world applications. Here, manipulation of the orientation of the staggered magnetization, (i.e., the N{\'e}el vector) by current pulses was recently demonstrated, with the readout limited to studies of anisotropic magnetoresistance or x-ray magnetic linear dichroism. Here we report on the in-plane reflectivity anisotropy of Mn2Au(001) films, which are N{\'e}el vector aligned in pulsed magnetic fields. In the near-infrared region, the anisotropy is approximately 0.6%, with higher reflectivity for the light polarized along the N{\'e}el vector. The observed magnetic linear dichroism is about 4 times larger than the anisotropic magnetoresistance. This suggests the dichroism in Mn2Au is a result of the strong spin-orbit interactions giving rise to anisotropy of interband optical transitions, which is in line with recent studies of electronic band structure. The considerable magnetic linear dichroism in the near-infrared region could be used for ultrafast optical readout of the N{\'e}el vector in Mn2Au.",

author = "Vladimir Grigorev and Mariia Filianina and Bodnar, {Stanislav Yu} and Sergei Sobolev and Nilabha Bhattacharjee and Satya Bommanaboyena and Yaryna Lytvynenko and Yurii Skourski and Dirk Fuchs and Mathias Kl{\"a}ui and Martin Jourdan and Jure Demsar",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-08-19 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): OSR-2019-CRG8-4048 Acknowledgements: This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant No. TRR 173 268565370 (Project A05, with additional contributions from A01). It received support from the Horizon 2020 framework program of the European Commission under Grant Agreement No. 863155 (S-NEBULA) and KAUST (OSR-2019-CRG8-4048). V.G. and M.F. acknowledge financial support from the Graduate School of Excellence “Materials Science in Mainz” (DFG Grant No. GSC 266 49741853). We acknowledge the Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland, for the beamtime allocation under proposal 20200977 at the SIM beamline of the Swiss Light Source. We thank the SIM beamline staff for technical support. We acknowledge valuable discussions with H.-J. Elmers, H. Gomonay, P. Grigorev, and L. {\v S}mejkal. This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.",

year = "2021",

month = jul,

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doi = "10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.014037",

language = "English (US)",

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T1 - Optical Readout of the Néel Vector in the Metallic Antiferromagnet Mn2Au

AU - Grigorev, Vladimir

AU - Filianina, Mariia

AU - Bodnar, Stanislav Yu

AU - Sobolev, Sergei

AU - Bhattacharjee, Nilabha

AU - Bommanaboyena, Satya

AU - Lytvynenko, Yaryna

AU - Skourski, Yurii

AU - Fuchs, Dirk

AU - Kläui, Mathias

AU - Jourdan, Martin

AU - Demsar, Jure

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-08-19 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): OSR-2019-CRG8-4048 Acknowledgements: This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant No. TRR 173 268565370 (Project A05, with additional contributions from A01). It received support from the Horizon 2020 framework program of the European Commission under Grant Agreement No. 863155 (S-NEBULA) and KAUST (OSR-2019-CRG8-4048). V.G. and M.F. acknowledge financial support from the Graduate School of Excellence “Materials Science in Mainz” (DFG Grant No. GSC 266 49741853). We acknowledge the Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland, for the beamtime allocation under proposal 20200977 at the SIM beamline of the Swiss Light Source. We thank the SIM beamline staff for technical support. We acknowledge valuable discussions with H.-J. Elmers, H. Gomonay, P. Grigorev, and L. Šmejkal. This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

PY - 2021/7/15

Y1 - 2021/7/15

N2 - Metallic antiferromagnets with broken inversion symmetry on the two sublattices, strong spin-orbit coupling, and high Néel temperatures offer alternative opportunities for applications in spintronics. Especially Mn2Au, with a high Néel temperature and high conductivity, is particularly interesting for real-world applications. Here, manipulation of the orientation of the staggered magnetization, (i.e., the Néel vector) by current pulses was recently demonstrated, with the readout limited to studies of anisotropic magnetoresistance or x-ray magnetic linear dichroism. Here we report on the in-plane reflectivity anisotropy of Mn2Au(001) films, which are Néel vector aligned in pulsed magnetic fields. In the near-infrared region, the anisotropy is approximately 0.6%, with higher reflectivity for the light polarized along the Néel vector. The observed magnetic linear dichroism is about 4 times larger than the anisotropic magnetoresistance. This suggests the dichroism in Mn2Au is a result of the strong spin-orbit interactions giving rise to anisotropy of interband optical transitions, which is in line with recent studies of electronic band structure. The considerable magnetic linear dichroism in the near-infrared region could be used for ultrafast optical readout of the Néel vector in Mn2Au.

AB - Metallic antiferromagnets with broken inversion symmetry on the two sublattices, strong spin-orbit coupling, and high Néel temperatures offer alternative opportunities for applications in spintronics. Especially Mn2Au, with a high Néel temperature and high conductivity, is particularly interesting for real-world applications. Here, manipulation of the orientation of the staggered magnetization, (i.e., the Néel vector) by current pulses was recently demonstrated, with the readout limited to studies of anisotropic magnetoresistance or x-ray magnetic linear dichroism. Here we report on the in-plane reflectivity anisotropy of Mn2Au(001) films, which are Néel vector aligned in pulsed magnetic fields. In the near-infrared region, the anisotropy is approximately 0.6%, with higher reflectivity for the light polarized along the Néel vector. The observed magnetic linear dichroism is about 4 times larger than the anisotropic magnetoresistance. This suggests the dichroism in Mn2Au is a result of the strong spin-orbit interactions giving rise to anisotropy of interband optical transitions, which is in line with recent studies of electronic band structure. The considerable magnetic linear dichroism in the near-infrared region could be used for ultrafast optical readout of the Néel vector in Mn2Au.

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UR - https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.014037

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DO - 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.014037

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JF - Physical Review Applied

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ER -

Optical Readout of the Néel Vector in the Metallic Antiferromagnet Mn2Au

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