Satya Prakash
Mn2Au is a collinear antiferromagnet which possesses the requisite crystallographic symmetry to exhibit current-induced Néel spin-orbit torques [1-2]. In this work, we demonstrate an exceptionally strong interfacial exchange coupling of Mn2Au films with thin Permalloy (Py) overlayers [3]. The antiferromagnetic domain pattern of Mn2Au is found to be perfectly imprinted on Py which can be attributed to a specific atomic termination of the Mn2Au(001) thin films grown for this study. Furthermore, the ferromagnetic hysteresis loops of exchange coupled 2nm Py overlayers reveal a large coercive field of 0.5 T. The observed coercivity is associated with a coupled rotation of both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic orders as determined via spectroscopic XMCD & XMLD measurements. These results unlock novel possibilities for the readout of next generation antiferromagnetic spintronics devices.
[1] J. Železný et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 157201 (2014).[2] S. Yu. Bodnar et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 348 (2018).
[3] S. P. Bommanaboyena et al., Nat. Commun. 12, 6539 (2021).