Phys.org April 20, 2020
Antiferromagnetic materials seem harder to work with but have many useful properties and they are less subject to external magnetic fields due to a unique arrangement of their constituent parts making it harder to manipulate the material as needed. According to researchers in Japan in antiferromagnetic manganese-tin alloy Mn3Sn Weyl fermions exist at Weyl points in momentum space. They have two possible states that could represent binary digits. They found that it is possible to switch a Weyl point between these states with an external electrical current applied to neighboring thin layers of Mn3Sn and either platinum or tungsten leading to spin-orbit torque switching. Their discovery indicates the massless Weyl fermion has been found in their magnet, and it can be electrically manipulated…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Diagram to show how Weyl points are controlled. Credit: © 2020 Higo et al.