Orbitally dominated Rashba-Edelstein effect in noncentrosymmetric antiferromagnets

Leandro Salemi (), Marco Berritta, Ashis K. Nandy and Peter M. Oppeneer ()
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Leandro Salemi: Uppsala University
Marco Berritta: Uppsala University
Ashis K. Nandy: Uppsala University
Peter M. Oppeneer: Uppsala University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Efficient manipulation of magnetic order with electric current pulses is desirable for achieving fast spintronic devices. The Rashba-Edelstein effect, wherein spin polarization is electrically induced in noncentrosymmetric systems, provides a mean to achieve staggered spin-orbit torques. Initially predicted for spin, its orbital counterpart has been disregarded up to now. Here we report a generalized Rashba-Edelstein effect, which generates not only spin polarization but also orbital polarization, which we find to be far from being negligible. We show that the orbital Rashba-Edelstein effect does not require spin-orbit coupling to exist. We present first-principles calculations of the frequency-dependent spin and orbital Rashba-Edelstein tensors for the noncentrosymmetric antiferromagnets CuMnAs and Mn$${}_{2}$$2Au. We show that the electrically induced local magnetization can exhibit Rashba-like or Dresselhaus-like symmetries, depending on the magnetic configuration. We compute sizable induced magnetizations at optical frequencies, which suggest that electric-field driven switching could be achieved at much higher frequencies.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13367-z

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