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Electrical switching of an antiferromagnet

P. Wadley1, B. Howells1, J.Železný2,3, C.Andrews1, V.Hills, R.P.Campion1, V.Novák2, K.Olejník2, F.Maccherozzi4, S.S.Dhesi4, S.Y.Martin5, T.Wagner5,6, J.Wunderlich2,5, F.Freimuth7, Y.Mokrousov7, J.Kuneš8, J.S.Chauhan1, M.J.Grzybowski1,9, A.W.Rushforth1, K.W.Edmonds1, B.L.Gallagher1, T.Jungwirth2,1

Science 351 (2016) 587–590, doi: 10.1126/science.aab1031 Science 351 (2016) 558–559, doi: 10.1126/science.aad8211

Ferromagnets and antiferromagnets are the two basic forms of magnetically ordered materials. Traditionally we thought that magnetism can be easily controlled and utilized only in ferromagnets. Researchers from the Czech Republic, United Kingdom, and Germany change this perception by demonstrating electrical switching of magnetization in an antiferromagnetic microchip.

USB device allowing to write and read information in multi-level bit cells via antiferromagnetic domains.

1School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
2Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Cukrovarnická 10, 162 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic.
3Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Ke Karlovu 3, 121 16 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
4Diamond Light Source, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0DE, UK.
5Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK.
6Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK.
7Peter Grünberg Institut and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich and JARA, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
8Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Praha 8, Czech Republic.
9Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Lotnikow 32/46, PL-02-668 Warsaw, Poland.