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Spin current from sub-terahertz-generated antiferromagnetic magnons

Author

Listed:
  • Junxue Li

    (University of California)

  • C. Blake Wilson

    (University of California
    University of California)

  • Ran Cheng

    (University of California
    University of California)

  • Mark Lohmann

    (University of California)

  • Marzieh Kavand

    (University of California
    University of California)

  • Wei Yuan

    (University of California)

  • Mohammed Aldosary

    (University of California)

  • Nikolay Agladze

    (University of California
    University of California)

  • Peng Wei

    (University of California)

  • Mark S. Sherwin

    (University of California
    University of California)

  • Jing Shi

    (University of California)

Abstract

Spin dynamics in antiferromagnets has much shorter timescales than in ferromagnets, offering attractive properties for potential applications in ultrafast devices1–3. However, spin-current generation via antiferromagnetic resonance and simultaneous electrical detection by the inverse spin Hall effect in heavy metals have not yet been explicitly demonstrated4–6. Here we report sub-terahertz spin pumping in heterostructures of a uniaxial antiferromagnetic Cr2O3 crystal and a heavy metal (Pt or Ta in its β phase). At 0.240 terahertz, the antiferromagnetic resonance in Cr2O3 occurs at about 2.7 tesla, which excites only right-handed magnons. In the spin-canting state, another resonance occurs at 10.5 tesla from the precession of induced magnetic moments. Both resonances generate pure spin currents in the heterostructures, which are detected by the heavy metal as peaks or dips in the open-circuit voltage. The pure-spin-current nature of the electrically detected signals is unambiguously confirmed by the reversal of the voltage polarity observed under two conditions: when switching the detector metal from Pt to Ta, reversing the sign of the spin Hall angle7–9, and when flipping the magnetic-field direction, reversing the magnon chirality4,5. The temperature dependence of the electrical signals at both resonances suggests that the spin current contains both coherent and incoherent magnon contributions, which is further confirmed by measurements of the spin Seebeck effect and is well described by a phenomenological theory. These findings reveal the unique characteristics of magnon excitations in antiferromagnets and their distinctive roles in spin–charge conversion in the high-frequency regime.

Suggested Citation

  • Junxue Li & C. Blake Wilson & Ran Cheng & Mark Lohmann & Marzieh Kavand & Wei Yuan & Mohammed Aldosary & Nikolay Agladze & Peng Wei & Mark S. Sherwin & Jing Shi, 2020. "Spin current from sub-terahertz-generated antiferromagnetic magnons," Nature, Nature, vol. 578(7793), pages 70-74, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:578:y:2020:i:7793:d:10.1038_s41586-020-1950-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-1950-4
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    Cited by:

    1. Dongsheng Yang & Taeheon Kim & Kyusup Lee & Chang Xu & Yakun Liu & Fei Wang & Shishun Zhao & Dushyant Kumar & Hyunsoo Yang, 2024. "Spin-orbit torque manipulation of sub-terahertz magnons in antiferromagnetic α-Fe2O3," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. C. Huang & L. Luo & M. Mootz & J. Shang & P. Man & L. Su & I. E. Perakis & Y. X. Yao & A. Wu & J. Wang, 2024. "Extreme terahertz magnon multiplication induced by resonant magnetic pulse pairs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Igor Ilyakov & Arne Brataas & Thales V. A. G. Oliveira & Alexey Ponomaryov & Jan-Christoph Deinert & Olav Hellwig & Jürgen Faßbender & Jürgen Lindner & Ruslan Salikhov & Sergey Kovalev, 2023. "Efficient ultrafast field-driven spin current generation for spintronic terahertz frequency conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Zhenyi Zheng & Tao Zeng & Tieyang Zhao & Shu Shi & Lizhu Ren & Tongtong Zhang & Lanxin Jia & Youdi Gu & Rui Xiao & Hengan Zhou & Qihan Zhang & Jiaqi Lu & Guilei Wang & Chao Zhao & Huihui Li & Beng Kan, 2024. "Effective electrical manipulation of a topological antiferromagnet by orbital torques," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    5. E. Rongione & O. Gueckstock & M. Mattern & O. Gomonay & H. Meer & C. Schmitt & R. Ramos & T. Kikkawa & M. Mičica & E. Saitoh & J. Sinova & H. Jaffrès & J. Mangeney & S. T. B. Goennenwein & S. Geprägs , 2023. "Emission of coherent THz magnons in an antiferromagnetic insulator triggered by ultrafast spin–phonon interactions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Lin Huang & Yanzhang Cao & Hongsong Qiu & Hua Bai & Liyang Liao & Chong Chen & Lei Han & Feng Pan & Biaobing Jin & Cheng Song, 2024. "Terahertz oscillation driven by optical spin-orbit torque," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    7. Pavlo Makushko & Tobias Kosub & Oleksandr V. Pylypovskyi & Natascha Hedrich & Jiang Li & Alexej Pashkin & Stanislav Avdoshenko & René Hübner & Fabian Ganss & Daniel Wolf & Axel Lubk & Maciej Oskar Lie, 2022. "Flexomagnetism and vertically graded Néel temperature of antiferromagnetic Cr2O3 thin films," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Andrew H. Comstock & Chung-Tao Chou & Zhiyu Wang & Tonghui Wang & Ruyi Song & Joseph Sklenar & Aram Amassian & Wei Zhang & Haipeng Lu & Luqiao Liu & Matthew C. Beard & Dali Sun, 2023. "Hybrid magnonics in hybrid perovskite antiferromagnets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    9. Yongjian Zhou & Liyang Liao & Tingwen Guo & Hua Bai & Mingkun Zhao & Caihua Wan & Lin Huang & Lei Han & Leilei Qiao & Yunfeng You & Chong Chen & Ruyi Chen & Zhiyuan Zhou & Xiufeng Han & Feng Pan & Che, 2022. "Orthogonal interlayer coupling in an all-antiferromagnetic junction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    10. Hongjun Xu & Ke Jia & Yuan Huang & Fanqi Meng & Qinghua Zhang & Yu Zhang & Chen Cheng & Guibin Lan & Jing Dong & Jinwu Wei & Jiafeng Feng & Congli He & Zhe Yuan & Mingliang Zhu & Wenqing He & Caihua W, 2023. "Electrical detection of spin pumping in van der Waals ferromagnetic Cr2Ge2Te6 with low magnetic damping," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    11. Farhan Nur Kholid & Dominik Hamara & Ahmad Faisal Bin Hamdan & Guillermo Nava Antonio & Richard Bowen & Dorothée Petit & Russell Cowburn & Roman V. Pisarev & Davide Bossini & Joseph Barker & Chiara Ci, 2023. "The importance of the interface for picosecond spin pumping in antiferromagnet-heavy metal heterostructures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    12. Lin Huang & Liyang Liao & Hongsong Qiu & Xianzhe Chen & Hua Bai & Lei Han & Yongjian Zhou & Yichen Su & Zhiyuan Zhou & Feng Pan & Biaobing Jin & Cheng Song, 2024. "Antiferromagnetic magnonic charge current generation via ultrafast optical excitation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-5, December.
    13. Hao Wu & Hantao Zhang & Baomin Wang & Felix Groß & Chao-Yao Yang & Gengfei Li & Chenyang Guo & Haoran He & Kin Wong & Di Wu & Xiufeng Han & Chih-Huang Lai & Joachim Gräfe & Ran Cheng & Kang L. Wang, 2022. "Current-induced Néel order switching facilitated by magnetic phase transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    14. Zhenya Zhang & Fumiya Sekiguchi & Takahiro Moriyama & Shunsuke C. Furuya & Masahiro Sato & Takuya Satoh & Yu Mukai & Koichiro Tanaka & Takafumi Yamamoto & Hiroshi Kageyama & Yoshihiko Kanemitsu & Hide, 2023. "Generation of third-harmonic spin oscillation from strong spin precession induced by terahertz magnetic near fields," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    15. Yan Li & Zhitao Zhang & Chen Liu & Dongxing Zheng & Bin Fang & Chenhui Zhang & Aitian Chen & Yinchang Ma & Chunmei Wang & Haoliang Liu & Ka Shen & Aurélien Manchon & John Q. Xiao & Ziqiang Qiu & Can-M, 2024. "Reconfigurable spin current transmission and magnon–magnon coupling in hybrid ferrimagnetic insulators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    16. Christian Tzschaschel & Jian-Xiang Qiu & Xue-Jian Gao & Hou-Chen Li & Chunyu Guo & Hung-Yu Yang & Cheng-Ping Zhang & Ying-Ming Xie & Yu-Fei Liu & Anyuan Gao & Damien Bérubé & Thao Dinh & Sheng-Chin Ho, 2024. "Nonlinear optical diode effect in a magnetic Weyl semimetal," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Feilong Song & Yanpei Lv & Yu-Jia Sun & Simin Pang & Haonan Chang & Shan Guan & Jia-Min Lai & Xu-Jie Wang & Bang Wu & Chengyong Hu & Zhiliang Yuan & Jun Zhang, 2024. "Manipulation of anisotropic Zhang-Rice exciton in NiPS3 by magnetic field," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

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