Tuesday, 16 May 2023
A new study has shown for the first time how electrical creation and control of magnetic vortices in an antiferromagnet can be achieved, a discovery that will increase the data storage capacity and speed of next generation devices.
Researchers from the University of Nottingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy have used magnetic imaging techniques to map the structure of newly formed magnetic vortices and demonstrate their back-and-forth movement due to alternating electrical pulses. Their findings have been published in Nature Nanotechnology.
This is an exciting moment for us, these magnetic vortices have been proposed as information carriers in next-generation memory devices, but evidence of their existence in antiferromagnets has so far been scarce. Now, we have not only generated them, but also moved them in a controllable way. It’s another success for our material, CuMnAs, which has been at the centre of several breakthroughs in antiferromagnetic spintronics over the last few years.
CuMnAs has a specific crystal structure, grown in almost complete vacuum, atomic layer by atomic layer. It has been shown to behave like a switch when pulsed with electrical currents, and the research group in Nottingham, led by Dr Peter Wadley, alongside international collaborators, have ‘zoomed in’ on the magnetic textures being controlled; first with the demonstration of moving domain walls, and now with the generation and control of magnetic vortices.
Key to this research is a magnetic imaging technique called photoemission electron microscopy, which was carried out at the UK's synchrotron facility, Diamond Light Source. The synchrotron produces a collimated beam of polarised x-rays, which is shone onto the sample to probe to magnetic state. This allows for spatially resolution of micromagnetic textures as small as 20 nanometres in size.
Magnetic materials have been technologically important for centuries, from the compass to modern hard disks. However almost all of these materials have belonged to one type of magnetic order : ferromagnetism. This is the type of magnet we are all familiar with from fridge magnets to washing machine motors and computer hard disks. They produce an external magnetic field that we can "feel" because all of the tiny atomic magnetic moments that constitute them like to align in the same direction. It is this field that causes fridge magnets to stick and that we sometimes see mapped out with iron filings.
Because they lack an external magnetic field, antiferromagnets are hard to detect and, until recently, hard to control. For this reason they have found almost no applications. Antiferromagnets produce no external magnetic field because all of the neighboring constituent tiny atomic moments point in exactly opposite directions from each other. In doing so they cancel each other out and no external magnetic field is produced: they won't stick to fridges or deflect a compass needle.
But antiferromagnets are magnetically more robust and movement of their tiny atomic moments happens approximately 1000 times faster than a ferromagnet. This could create computer memory which operates far faster than current memory technology.
Antiferromagnets have the potential to out-compete other forms of memory which would lead to a redesign of computing architecture, huge speed increases and energy savings. The additional computing power could have large societal impact. These findings are really exciting as they bring us closer to realising the potential of antiferromagnet materials to transform the digital landscape.
Story credits
More information is available from Oliver Amin at the University of Nottingham on oliver.amin@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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