Efficient Electrical Spin-Splitter Based on Non-Relativistic Collinear Antiferromagnetism

2020/02/29 by Rafael González-Hernández, Libor Šmejkal, Karel Výborný +4 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mtrl-sci

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.126.127701

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 127701 (2021) · 6 pages, 4 figures

arxiv created 2020/08/10 · arxiv updated 2021/03/31

Abstract

Electrical spin-current generation is among the core phenomena driving the field of spintronics. Using \em ab initio calculations we show that a room-temperature metallic collinear antiferromagnet RuO₂ allows for highly efficient spin-current generation, arising from anisotropically-split bands with conserved up and down spins along the Néel vector axis. The zero net moment antiferromagnet acts as an electrical spin-splitter with a 34^∘ propagation angle between spin-up and spin-down currents. Correspondingly, the spin-conductivity is a factor of three larger than the record value from a survey of 20,000 non-magnetic spin-Hall materials. We propose a versatile spin-splitter-torque concept utilizing antiferromagnetic RuO₂ films interfaced with a ferromagnet.

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