Electrically controlled long-distance spin transport through an antiferromagnetic insulator

Abstract

Spintronics uses spins, the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons, as an alternative for the electron charge. Its long-term goal is in the development of beyond-Moore low dissipation technology devices. Recent progress demonstrated the long-distance transport of spin signals across ferromagnetic insulators. Antiferromagnetically ordered materials are however the most common class of magnetic materials with several crucial advantages over ferromagnetic systems. In contrast to the latter, antiferromagnets exhibit no net magnetic moment, which renders them stable and impervious to external fields. In addition, they can be operated at THz frequencies. While fundamentally their properties bode well for spin transport, previous indirect observations indicate that spin transmission through antiferromagnets is limited to short distances of a few nanometers. Here we demonstrate the long-distance, over tens of micrometers, propagation of spin currents through hematite (α-Fe2O3), the most common antiferromagnetic iron oxide, exploiting the spin Hall effect for spin injection. We control the spin current flow by the interfacial spin-bias and by tuning the antiferromagnetic resonance frequency with an external magnetic field. This simple antiferromagnetic insulator is shown to convey spin information parallel to the compensated moment (Néel order) over distances exceeding tens of micrometers. This newly-discovered mechanism transports spin as efficiently as the net magnetic moments in the best-suited complex ferromagnets. Our results pave the way to ultra-fast, low-power antiferromagnet-insulator-based spin-logic devices that operate at room temperature and in the absence of magnetic fields.