Observation of Antiferromagnetic Magnon Pseudospin Dynamics and the Hanle effect

ORAL

Abstract

The quantized spin excitations of an antiferromagnet can be described as pairs of spin-up and -down magnons and characterized by a magnonic pseudospin. Here, we report experiments demonstrating control of magnon spin transport and pseudospin dynamics in a 15 nm thin film of the antiferromagnetic insulator hematite (α-Fe2O3) utilizing two Pt strips for all-electrical magnon injection and detection [1]. We observe an oscillation in polarity of the magnon spin signal at the detector as a function of the externally applied magnetic field. We quantitatively explain our experiments in terms of diffusive magnon transport. In particular, we observe a coherent precession of the magnon pseudospin caused by the easy-plane anisotropy and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. This observation can be viewed as the magnonic analogue of the electronic Hanle effect and the Datta-Das transistor, unlocking the high potential of antiferromagnetic magnonics towards the realization of electronics-inspired phenomena.
[1] Wimmer et al., arXiv 2008.00440 (2020).

*We acknowledge financial support from the DFG under Germany’s Excellence Strategy -- EXC-2111 -- 390814868 and project AL2110/2-1, and the Research Council of Norway through its Centers of Excellence funding scheme, project 262633, ``QuSpin''.

Presenters

  • Tobias Wimmer

    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany

Authors

  • Tobias Wimmer

    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany
  • Akashdeep Kamra

    • 4Center for Quantum Spintronics, Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
    • Center for Quantum Spintronics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Janine Gückelhorn

    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany
  • Matthias Opel

    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany
  • Stephan Geprägs

    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany
    • Walther Meißner Institut
  • Rudolf Gross

    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
    • Walther-Meissner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 85748 Garching, Germany
    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany
    • Walther Meißner Institut
    • Walther-Meißner-Institute, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities & Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, Germany
  • Hans Huebl

    • Walther-Meissner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 85748 Garching, Germany
    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany
  • Matthias Althammer

    • Walther-Meissner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 85748 Garching, Germany
    • Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany
    • Walther Meissner Institute