Researchers achieve breakthrough in silicon-compatible magnetic whirls

Phys.org  February 20, 2024 Antiferromagnets hosting real-space topological textures are promising platforms to model fundamental ultrafast phenomena and explore spintronics. However, as they are epitaxially fabricated on specific symmetry-matched substrates, preserving their intrinsic magneto-crystalline order, curtails their integration with dissimilar supports, restricting the scope of fundamental and applied investigations. An international team of researchers (UK, Switzerland, Singapore) circumvented this limitation by designing detachable crystalline antiferromagnetic nanomembranes of α-Fe2O3. They showed that flat nanomembranes host a spin-reorientation transition and rich topological phenomenology. They demonstrated the reconfiguration of antiferromagnetic states across three-dimensional membrane folds resulting from flexure-induced strains. They combined these developments […]

Measuring changes in magnetic order to find ways to transcend conventional electronics

Science Daily  September 6, 2019 Recent studies have shown that the antiferromagnetic AFM order parameter can be ‘switched’ (that is, change it from one known value to another, fast) using light or electric currents. However, the dynamics of the order-switching process are not understood. Current approaches rely on measuring only certain phenomena during AFM order switching and they are not reliable. An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Japan) used second-harmonic generation whose output value is directly related to the AFM order parameter and combined it with measurements of the Faraday effect. Combining these two different measurement methods, the researchers managed […]