Real-space imaging of non-collinear antiferromagnetic order with a single-spin magnetometer
Real-space imaging of non-collinear antiferromagnetic order with a single-spin magnetometer
复制标题
DOI：
10.1038/nature23656
复制
发表时间：
2017-09-14
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Jacques, V.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gross, I.;Akhtar, W.;Jacques, V.
尽管铁磁体有许多应用，但它们的大磁化强度和由此产生的切换磁矩的能量成本使人怀疑它们是否适合用于可靠的低功率自旋电子器件。非共线反铁磁系统没有这个问题，通常具有额外的功能：非共线自旋顺序(1)可能破坏空间反转对称性(2，3)，从而允许电场控制磁性(4，5)，或者可能产生紧急的自旋-轨道效应(6)，从而实现有效的自旋-电荷相互转换(7)。为了利用下一代自旋电子学的这些特性，必须为反铁磁系统开发纳米级控制和成像能力，这些能力现在是铁磁体的常规功能。在这里，我们使用一台基于金刚石(8-10)中氮空位缺陷的非侵入式扫描单自旋磁强计，展示了室温下磁性薄膜中非共线反铁磁有序的真实空间可视化。我们对多铁性铋铁氧体(BiFeO_3)薄膜的自旋摆线成像，并提取了约70纳米的周期，这与宏观衍射(11，12)的值一致。此外，我们还利用BiFeO_3中存在的磁电耦合作用，通过电场来控制摆线的传播方向。除了突出氮空位磁学在纳米尺度成像复杂反铁磁序的潜力外，这些结果还展示了BiFeO_3如何用于可重构纳米尺度自旋织构的设计。
Although ferromagnets have many applications, their large magnetization and the resulting energy cost for switching magnetic moments bring into question their suitability for reliable low-power spintronic devices. Non-collinear antiferromagnetic systems do not suffer from this problem, and often have extra functionalities: non-collinear spin order(1) may break space-inversion symmetry(2,3) and thus allow electric-field control of magnetism(4,5), or may produce emergent spin-orbit effects(6) that enable efficient spin-charge interconversion(7). To harness these traits for next-generation spintronics, the nanoscale control and imaging capabilities that are now routine for ferromagnets must be developed for antiferromagnetic systems. Here, using a non-invasive, scanning single-spin magnetometer based on a nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond(8-10), we demonstrate real-space visualization of non-collinear antiferromagnetic order in a magnetic thin film at room temperature. We image the spin cycloid of a multiferroic bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) thin film and extract a period of about 70 nanometres, consistent with values determined by macroscopic diffraction(11,12). In addition, we take advantage of the magnetoelectric coupling present in BiFeO3 to manipulate the cycloid propagation direction by an electric field. Besides highlighting the potential of nitrogen-vacancy magnetometry for imaging complex antiferromagnetic orders at the nanoscale, these results demonstrate how BiFeO3 can be used in the design of reconfigurable nanoscale spin textures.