Antiferromagnets for spinorbitronics from ab-initio theory

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The potential of spintronics for applications and new emergent technologies is highest in decades. The discovery of the spin-orbit interaction as the source behind transverse spin-currents heralds the beginning of an exciting research direction called spinorbitronics. While most of the current studies in spinorbitronics are closely associated with paramagnets and ferromagnets, antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials have been so far largely overlooked with respect to spin-orbit driven transport manifestations and spinorbitronics applications, despite their remarkable properties such as magnetic invisibility, ultrafast dynamics and robustness against magnetic fields. In the past couple of years a new promising field of antiferromagnetic spinorbitronics started to emerge owing in large to the observations that antiferromagnets can serve as sources of pronounced transverse spin currents, and that an all-electrical relativistic switching of staggered AFM magnetization is possible. In this project, we will use the highly-predictive ab-initio theory, which can unite under the same umbrella the effects due to relativistic coupling of currents and magnetization in AFM heterostructures for the design, understanding and discovery of novel relativistic effects which manifest in: (i) spin- and anomalous Hall effects, spin-orbit torques, and current-induced spin accumulation; (ii) AFM magnetization-dynamics driven charge- and spin-pumping effects, and (iii) non-trivial orbital and chiral response of AFMs in terms of current-induced orbital magnetization and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Our ultimate objective is shaping the future of antiferromagnetic spinorbitronics by suggesting new effects and sharpening the efficiency and materials design for electrical control of antiferromagnetism.