Voltage Control of Antiferromagnetic Phases at Near-Terahertz Frequencies

A method to control antiferromagnetism using voltage-induced strain is proposed and theoretically examined. Voltage-induced magnetoelastic anisotropy is shown to provide sufficient torque to switch an antiferromagnetic domain 90 degrees either from out of plane to in plane or between in-plane axes. Numerical results indicate that strain-mediated antiferromagnetic switching can occur in an 80-nm nanopatterned disk at frequencies approaching 1 THz but that the switching speed heavily depends on the system's mechanical design. Furthermore, the energy cost to induce magnetic switching is only 450 aJ, indicating that magnetoelastic control of antiferromagnetism is substantially more energy efficient than other approaches.