Route towards Dirac and Weyl antiferromagnetic spintronics (Phys. Status Solidi RRL 4/2017)

• Published in: Physica status solidi. PSS-RRL. Rapid research letters Vol. 11; no. 4
• Main Authors: Smejkal, Libor, Jungwirth, Tomás, Sinova, Jairo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-04-2017
• Subjects: Antiferromagnetism; Atoms & subatomic particles; Crystal structure; Curvature; Insulators; Magnetism; Metal-insulator transition; Quantum Hall effect; Solid state physics; Spinning; Spintronics; Topology
• ISSN: 1862-6254; 1862-6270
• DOI: 10.1002/pssr.201770317

To fully exploit topological effects in spintronics, one must overcome the need for low temperatures, low dimensionality, and rather challenging compatibility with magnetism. In their Review @ RRL (article no. 1700044), Smejkal et al. describe how spintronics effects can be combined with Dirac and Weyl quasiparticles in antiferromagnets. Prominent examples include the prediction of metal-insulator transition in Dirac semimetal antiferromagnets, the experimentally discovered intrinsic anomalous Hall effect in noncollinear Weyl antiferromagnets and the Quantum Hall effect controlled by magnetism in Dirac quasiparticle antiferromagnets. The authors show that the coupling between the antiferromagnetic order and relativistic quasiparticles not only leads to novel effects but also pushes their limits. Topological antiferromagnets - although externally magnetically invisible - can generate strong intrinsic emergent fields leading potentially to giant dissipationless spintronics effects. The cover picture illustrates an example - Berry curvature field which connects two Weyl points. Owing to the unique symmetries, Dirac and Weyl antiferromagnets (see the exemplary crystal structure) offer radically new perspectives on topological spintronics and open the next era in a topological matter.