Phys.org  October 11, 2024 Researchers in Japan visualized antiferromagnetic domains in a representative quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet using nonreciprocal directional dichroism, which differentiated the optical absorption of a pair of antiferromagnetic domains. Opposite antiferromagnetic domains, each about submillimeter in size, were found to coexist in a single-crystal specimen, and the domain walls ran predominantly along the spin chains. They showed that the domain walls could be moved by an applied electric field through a magnetoelectric coupling, and the direction of the domain walls was maintained during the motion. They explained the domain wall anisotropy by the quasi-one-dimensional nature of the exchange interactions. […]