Octupole-driven magnetoresistance in an antiferromagnetic tunnel junction

Xianzhe Chen, Tomoya Higo, Katsuhiro Tanaka, Takuya Nomoto, Hanshen Tsai, Hiroshi Idzuchi, Masanobu Shiga, Shoya Sakamoto, Ryoya Ando, Hidetoshi Kosaki, Takumi Matsuo, Daisuke Nishio-Hamane, Ryotaro Arita, Shinji Miwa and Satoru Nakatsuji ()
Additional contact information
Xianzhe Chen: University of Tokyo
Tomoya Higo: University of Tokyo
Katsuhiro Tanaka: University of Tokyo
Takuya Nomoto: University of Tokyo
Hanshen Tsai: University of Tokyo
Hiroshi Idzuchi: University of Tokyo
Masanobu Shiga: University of Tokyo
Shoya Sakamoto: University of Tokyo
Ryoya Ando: University of Tokyo
Hidetoshi Kosaki: University of Tokyo
Takumi Matsuo: University of Tokyo
Daisuke Nishio-Hamane: University of Tokyo
Ryotaro Arita: CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency
Shinji Miwa: University of Tokyo
Satoru Nakatsuji: University of Tokyo

Nature, 2023, vol. 613, issue 7944, 490-495

Abstract: Abstract The tunnelling electric current passing through a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is strongly dependent on the relative orientation of magnetizations in ferromagnetic electrodes sandwiching an insulating barrier, rendering efficient readout of spintronics devices1–5. Thus, tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) is considered to be proportional to spin polarization at the interface1 and, to date, has been studied primarily in ferromagnets. Here we report observation of TMR in an all-antiferromagnetic tunnel junction consisting of Mn3Sn/MgO/Mn3Sn (ref. 6). We measured a TMR ratio of around 2% at room temperature, which arises between the parallel and antiparallel configurations of the cluster magnetic octupoles in the chiral antiferromagnetic state. Moreover, we carried out measurements using a Fe/MgO/Mn3Sn MTJ and show that the sign and direction of anisotropic longitudinal spin-polarized current in the antiferromagnet7 can be controlled by octupole direction. Strikingly, the TMR ratio (about 2%) of the all-antiferromagnetic MTJ is much larger than that estimated using the observed spin polarization. Theoretically, we found that the chiral antiferromagnetic MTJ may produce a substantially large TMR ratio as a result of the time-reversal, symmetry-breaking polarization characteristic of cluster magnetic octupoles. Our work lays the foundation for the development of ultrafast and efficient spintronic devices using antiferromagnets8–10.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05463-w

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