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Control of spin current and antiferromagnetic moments via topological surface state

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic materials, which have ordered but alternating magnetic moments, exhibit fast spin dynamics and produce negligible stray fields, and could be used to build high-density, high-speed memory devices with low power consumption. However, the efficient electrical detection and manipulation of antiferromagnetic moments is challenging. Here we show that the spin current and antiferromagnetic moments in the topological insulator/antiferromagnetic insulator bilayer (Bi,Sb)2Te3/α-Fe2O3 can be controlled via topological surface states. In particular, the orientation of the antiferromagnetic moments in α-Fe2O3 can modulate the spin current reflection at the bilayer interface. In turn, the spin current can control the moment rotation in the antiferromagnetic insulator by means of a giant spin–orbit torque generated by the topological surface state. The required threshold switching current density is 3.5 × 106 A cm−2 at room temperature, which is one order of magnitude smaller than that required in heavy-metal/antiferromagnetic insulator systems.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of TSS-mediated mutual control of spin current and antiferromagnetic moments.
Fig. 2: Structure characterizations and antiferromagnet control of spin current in (Bi,Sb)2Te3 (7 QL)/α-Fe2O3 (15 nm) bilayers and corresponding MR.
Fig. 3: Spin current control of antiferromagnetic moments in (Bi0.25Sb0.75)2Te3 (7 QL)/α-Fe2O3 (15 nm) bilayers.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the fruitful discussions with O. V. Gomonay and J. Han. This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (MOST) (grant no. 2021YFB3601301), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 52225106 and 51871130) and Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (grant no. JQ20010), as well as support of the Beijing Innovation Center for Future Chip (ICFC), Tsinghua University.

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Authors

Contributions

C.S. supervised this study. X.C., H.B., Y.J. and X.L. grew the thin films and fabricated the devices. X.C., H.B., Y.Z. and Y.Y. carried out the magnetotransport measurements and proposed the theoretical calculations. A.L. and X.H. performed the microstructure and electronic structure characterizations. L.L., Q.W., W.Z., L.H., X.K., F.P. and J.Y. gave suggestions on the experiments. All the authors discussed the results and prepared the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cheng Song.

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Nature Electronics thanks Samik DuttaGupta and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–9 and Sections 1–9.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data for MR.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data for SOT switching.

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Chen, X., Bai, H., Ji, Y. et al. Control of spin current and antiferromagnetic moments via topological surface state. Nat Electron 5, 574–578 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-022-00825-8

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