journal article·2025-04

Spin-torque-driven gigahertz magnetization dynamics in the non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn3Sn

Won-Bin Lee, Seongmun Hwang, Hye-Won Ko, Byong-Guk Park, Kyung-Jin Lee, Gyung-Min Choi

Nature Nanotechnology· Volume 20· Issue 4
Publisher page

Abstract

Non-collinear antiferromagnets, such as Mn3Sn, stand out for their topological properties and potential in antiferromagnetic spintronics. This emerging field aims at harnessing ultrafast magnetization dynamics of antiferromagnets through spin torques. Here we report the time-resolved dynamics of Mn3Sn on a picosecond timescale, driven by an optically induced spin current pulse. Our results reveal that the magnetization of Mn3Sn tilts immediately after the spin current pulse and subsequently undergoes 70 GHz precession. This immediate tilting underscores the predominant role of damping-like torque stemming from spin current absorption by Mn3Sn. We also determine the spin coherence length of Mn3Sn to be approximately 15 nm. This value substantially exceeds that of ferromagnets, highlighting a distinct spin-dephasing process in non-collinear antiferromagnets. Our results hold promise for ultrafast applications of non-collinear antiferromagnets and enrich our understanding of their spin-transfer physics.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Magnetic properties of thin films · Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials · Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

References (42)

Show source-provided references
1. Jungwirth, T., Marti, X., Wadley, P. & Wunderlich, J. Antiferromagnetic spintronics. Nat. Nanotechnol. 11, 231–241 (2016).10.1038/nnano.2016.18 ↗
2. Baltz, V. et al. Antiferromagnetic spintronics. Rev. Mod. Phys. 90, 015005 (2018).10.1103/RevModPhys.90.015005 ↗
3. Kimel, A., Kirilyuk, A., Tsvetkov, A., Pisarev, R. & Rasing, T. Laser-induced ultrafast spin reorientation in the antiferromagnet TmFeO3. Nature 429, 850–853 (2004).10.1038/nature02659 ↗
4. Baierl, S. et al. Nonlinear spin control by terahertz-driven anisotropy fields. Nat. Photon. 10, 715–718 (2016).10.1038/nphoton.2016.181 ↗
5. Kampfrath, T. et al. Coherent terahertz control of antiferromagnetic spin waves. Nat. Photon. 5, 31–34 (2011).10.1038/nphoton.2010.259 ↗
6. Kimel, A. et al. Ultrafast non-thermal control of magnetization by instantaneous photomagnetic pulses. Nature 435, 655–657 (2005).10.1038/nature03564 ↗
7. Manchon, A. et al. Current-induced spin–orbit torques in ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic systems. Rev. Mod. Phys. 91, 035004 (2019).10.1103/RevModPhys.91.035004 ↗
8. Kang, K., Lee, W.-B., Lee, D.-K., Lee, K.-J. & Choi, G.-M. Magnetization dynamics of antiferromagnetic metals of PtMn and IrMn driven by a pulsed spin-transfer torque. Appl. Phys. Lett. 118, 252407 (2021).10.1063/5.0054502 ↗
9. Miwa, S. et al. Giant effective damping of octupole oscillation in an antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetal. Small Sci. 1, 2000062 (2021).10.1002/smsc.202000062 ↗
10. Krén, E., Paitz, J., Zimmer, G. & Zsoldos, É. Study of the magnetic phase transformation in the Mn3Sn phase. Physica B+C 80, 226–230 (1975).10.1016/0378-4363(75)90066-2 ↗
11. Tomiyoshi, S. & Yamaguchi, Y. Magnetic structure and weak ferromagnetism of Mn3Sn studied by polarized neutron diffraction. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn 51, 2478–2486 (1982).10.1143/JPSJ.51.2478 ↗
12. Brown, P., Nunez, V., Tasset, F., Forsyth, J. & Radhakrishna, P. Determination of the magnetic structure of Mn3Sn using generalized neutron polarization analysis. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 2, 9409 (1990).10.1088/0953-8984/2/47/015 ↗
13. Kübler, J. & Felser, C. Non-collinear antiferromagnets and the anomalous Hall effect. Europhys. Lett. 108, 67001 (2014).10.1209/0295-5075/108/67001 ↗
14. Yang, H. et al. Topological Weyl semimetals in the chiral antiferromagnetic materials Mn3Ge and Mn3Sn. New J. Phys. 19, 015008 (2017).10.1088/1367-2630/aa5487 ↗
15. Nakatsuji, S., Kiyohara, N. & Higo, T. Large anomalous Hall effect in a non-collinear antiferromagnet at room temperature. Nature 527, 212–215 (2015).10.1038/nature15723 ↗
16. Ikhlas, M. et al. Large anomalous Nernst effect at room temperature in a chiral antiferromagnet. Nat. Phys. 13, 1085–1090 (2017).10.1038/nphys4181 ↗
17. Kimata, M. et al. Magnetic and magnetic inverse spin Hall effects in a non-collinear antiferromagnet. Nature 565, 627–630 (2019).10.1038/s41586-018-0853-0 ↗
18. Hu, S. et al. Efficient perpendicular magnetization switching by a magnetic spin Hall effect in a noncollinear antiferromagnet. Nat. Commun. 13, 4447 (2022).10.1038/s41467-022-32179-2 ↗
19. Higo, T. et al. Large magneto-optical Kerr effect and imaging of magnetic octupole domains in an antiferromagnetic metal. Nat. Photon. 12, 73–78 (2018).10.1038/s41566-017-0086-z ↗
20. Tsai, H. et al. Electrical manipulation of a topological antiferromagnetic state. Nature 580, 608–613 (2020).10.1038/s41586-020-2211-2 ↗
21. Higo, T. et al. Perpendicular full switching of chiral antiferromagnetic order by current. Nature 607, 474–479 (2022).10.1038/s41586-022-04864-1 ↗
22. Takeuchi, Y. et al. Chiral-spin rotation of non-collinear antiferromagnet by spin–orbit torque. Nat. Mater. 20, 1364–1370 (2021).10.1038/s41563-021-01005-3 ↗
23. Yoon, J.-Y. et al. Handedness anomaly in a non-collinear antiferromagnet under spin–orbit torque. Nat. Mater. 22, 1106–1113 (2023).10.1038/s41563-023-01620-2 ↗
24. Krishnaswamy, G. K. et al. Time-dependent multistate switching of topological antiferromagnetic order in Mn3Sn. Phys. Rev. Appl. 18, 024064 (2022).10.1103/PhysRevApplied.18.024064 ↗
25. Pal, B. et al. Setting of the magnetic structure of chiral kagome antiferromagnets by a seeded spin–orbit torque. Sci. Adv. 8, eabo5930 (2022).10.1126/sciadv.abo5930 ↗
26. Zhang, S., Levy, P. & Fert, A. Mechanisms of spin-polarized current-driven magnetization switching. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 236601 (2002).10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.236601 ↗
27. Kovalev, A. A., Bauer, G. E. & Brataas, A. Perpendicular spin valves with ultrathin ferromagnetic layers: magnetoelectronic circuit investigation of finite-size effects. Phys. Rev. B 73, 054407 (2006).10.1103/PhysRevB.73.054407 ↗
28. Núnez, A. S., Duine, R., Haney, P. & MacDonald, A. Theory of spin torques and giant magnetoresistance in antiferromagnetic metals. Phys. Rev. B 73, 214426 (2006).10.1103/PhysRevB.73.214426 ↗
29. MacDonald, A. & Tsoi, M. Antiferromagnetic metal spintronics. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 369, 3098–3114 (2011).10.1098/rsta.2011.0014 ↗
30. Yu, J. et al. Long spin coherence length and bulk-like spin–orbit torque in ferrimagnetic multilayers. Nat. Mater. 18, 29–34 (2019).10.1038/s41563-018-0236-9 ↗
31. Lim, Y. et al. Dephasing of transverse spin current in ferrimagnetic alloys. Phys. Rev. B 103, 024443 (2021).10.1103/PhysRevB.103.024443 ↗
32. Stiles, M. D. & Zangwill, A. Anatomy of spin-transfer torque. Phys. Rev. B 66, 014407 (2002).10.1103/PhysRevB.66.014407 ↗
33. Choi, G.-M. et al. Optical spin–orbit torque in heavy metal-ferromagnet heterostructures. Nat. Commun. 11, 1482 (2020).10.1038/s41467-020-15247-3 ↗
34. Cheng, Y., Yu, S., Zhu, M., Hwang, J. & Yang, F. Tunable topological Hall effects in noncollinear antiferromagnet Mn3Sn/Pt bilayers. APL Mater. 9, 051121 (2021).10.1063/5.0048733 ↗
35. Železný, J., Zhang, Y., Felser, C. & Yan, B. Spin-polarized current in noncollinear antiferromagnets. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 187204 (2017).10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.187204 ↗
36. Yamane, Y., Gomonay, O. & Sinova, J. Dynamics of noncollinear antiferromagnetic textures driven by spin current injection. Phys. Rev. B 100, 054415 (2019).10.1103/PhysRevB.100.054415 ↗
37. Shukla, A. & Rakheja, S. Spin-torque-driven terahertz auto-oscillations in noncollinear coplanar antiferromagnets. Phys. Rev. Appl. 17, 034037 (2022).10.1103/PhysRevApplied.17.034037 ↗
38. Okuno, T. et al. Spin-transfer torques for domain wall motion in antiferromagnetically coupled ferrimagnets. Nat. Electron. 2, 389–393 (2019).10.1038/s41928-019-0303-5 ↗
39. Yang, Y. et al. Ultrafast magnetization reversal by picosecond electrical pulses. Sci. Adv. 3, e1603117 (2017).10.1126/sciadv.1603117 ↗
40. Jhuria, K. et al. Spin–orbit torque switching of a ferromagnet with picosecond electrical puses. Nat. Electron. 3, 680–686 (2020).10.1038/s41928-020-00488-3 ↗
41. Chen, X. et al. Octupole-driven magnetoresistance in an antiferromagnetic tunnel junction. Nature 613, 490–495 (2023).10.1038/s41586-022-05463-w ↗
42. Qin, P. et al. Room-temperature magnetoresistance in an all-antiferromagnetic tunnel junction. Nature 613, 485–489 (2023).10.1038/s41586-022-05461-y ↗