Spin pumping torque in antiferromagnets

摘要

A currentless, magnetic-field free mechanism for the Neel vector rotation in an antiferromagnet is proposed. An efficient torque is induced by spin pumping through charging/discharging of spin filtered electrons via a ferromagnetic layer in a spin capacitor structure consisting of the two heterogenous magnetic materials. The relatively long electron spin relaxation time in the antiferromagnet enables the electron spin polarizations to retain the exchange effective field sufficiently long to modulate the local magnetic moments and subsequently the magnetic state of the material. Precession of the sublattice magnetization is modeled based on the Néel vector formulation, theoretically demonstrating the feasibility of the physical mechanism (such as the reversal) with sub-aJ energy consumption. Its potential application to spintronic devices is also discussed.