Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Collinear antiferromagnets (AFs) support two degenerate magnon excitations carrying opposite spin polarizations, by which magnons can function as electrons in various spin-related phenomena. In an insulating ferromagnet(F)/AF/F trilayer, we explore the magnon-mediated interlayer coupling by calculating the magnon thermal energy in the AF as a function of the orientations of the Fs. The effect manifests as an interlayer exchange interaction and a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; they both depend on temperature and the AF thickness. In particular, the exchange interaction turns out to be antiferromagnetic at low temperatures and ferromagnetic at high temperatures, whose magnitude can be 10-100 μeV for nanoscale separations, allowing experimental verification.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: Ran Cheng, Di Xiao, Jian-Gang Zhu
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2788759641