Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 13, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33345-2
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Funding
- Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Tier 2 Grants [MOE2017-T2-2-011, MOE2018-T2-1-076]
- European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant) [815869]
- Israel Science Foundation (ISF) [1251/19, 3520/20, 2932/21]
- European Research Council (ERC) [815869] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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The electrical switching of noncollinear antiferromagnetic state in Mn3Sn can be achieved using self-generated spin torque. The spin current injection from the Ta layer can be controlled by varying the MgO thickness, and the switching sustains even at a large MgO thickness. Moreover, the switching polarity reverses when the MgO thickness exceeds a certain value.
Electrical manipulation of spins is essential to design state-of-the-art spintronic devices and commonly relies on the spin current injected from a second heavy-metal material. The fact that chiral antiferromagnets produce spin current inspires us to explore the magnetization switching of chiral spins using self-generated spin torque. Here, we demonstrate the electric switching of noncollinear antiferromagnetic state in Mn3Sn by observing a crossover from conventional spin-orbit torque to the self-generated spin torque when increasing the MgO thickness in Ta/MgO/Mn3Sn polycrystalline films. The spin current injection from the Ta layer can be controlled and even blocked by varying the MgO thickness, but the switching sustains even at a large MgO thickness. Furthermore, the switching polarity reverses when the MgO thickness exceeds around 3 nm, which cannot be explained by the spin-orbit torque scenario due to spin current injection from the Ta layer. Evident current-induced switching is also observed in MgO/Mn3Sn and Ti/Mn3Sn bilayers, where external injection of spin Hall current to Mn3Sn is negligible. The inter-grain spin-transfer torque induced by spin-polarized current explains the experimental observations. Our findings provide an alternative pathway for electrical manipulation of non-collinear antiferromagnetic state without resorting to the conventional bilayer structure.
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