Giant Spin-flop magnetoresistance in a collinear antiferromagnetic tunnel junction

Collinear antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials have the unique promise of no stray fields, displaying ultrafast dynamics, and being robust against perturbation fields which motivate the extensive research of antiferromagnetic spintronics. However, the detection of antiferromagnetic order poses formidable challenges. Here, we report the electrical detection of colinear antiferromagnetism in all-epitaxial RuO<sub>2</sub>/MgO/RuO<sub>2</sub> tunnel junctions (TJ) using spin-flop tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR). We measured a TAMR ratio of around 60% at room temperature, which arises from the switching between the parallel and perpendicular configurations of the adjacent collinear AFM state. Furthermore, we carried out angular-dependent measurements using this antiferromagnetic tunnel junction (AFM-TJ) and showed that the magnitude of anisotropic longitudinal magnetoresistance in the AFM-TJ can be controlled by the direction of an external magnetic field. First principles electronic structure calculations corroborate that the collinear antiferromagnetic TJ may produce a substantially large TAMR ratio. The emergence of resonant interfacial states, combined with the tunneling transmission through the MgO barrier and the substantial spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength of Ru, especially when augmented by oxygen doping, leads to the significant enhancement observed in the tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR). Our work not only propels antiferromagnetic materials to the forefront of spintronic device innovation but also unveils a novel paradigm for electrically controlled antiferromagnetic spintronics, auguring transformative advancements in high-speed, low-energy information devices.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-09-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62695-w
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Magnetic properties of thin films
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.99

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article

Giant Spin-flop magnetoresistance in a collinear antiferromagnetic tunnel junction

Farzad Mahfouzi, Yongshan Liu, Daoqian Zhu, Shijie Xu et al.
4 citations
Nature Communications
Magnetic properties of thin films
4.99
article

Giant Spin-flop magnetoresistance in a collinear antiferromagnetic tunnel junction

Farzad Mahfouzi, Yongshan Liu, Daoqian Zhu, Shijie Xu, Sylvain Eimer, Lixuan Tai, Bin Hong, A. Fert, Nicholas Kioussis, Bingqian Dai, Houyi Cheng, Kewen Shi, Weisheng S. Zhao, Zhizhong Zhang, Yue Zhang, Kun Zhang, Jin Woong Kim, Kang L. Wang, Yamei Wang, Jiefeng Cao, Jiakai Yang, Wenlong Cai, Kaihua Cao, Fangyuan Zhu, Yan Huang, Zongxia Guo
article en
4 citations

Abstract

Collinear antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials have the unique promise of no stray fields, displaying ultrafast dynamics, and being robust against perturbation fields which motivate the extensive research of antiferromagnetic spintronics. However, the detection of antiferromagnetic order poses formidable challenges. Here, we report the electrical detection of colinear antiferromagnetism in all-epitaxial RuO<sub>2</sub>/MgO/RuO<sub>2</sub> tunnel junctions (TJ) using spin-flop tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR). We measured a TAMR ratio of around 60% at room temperature, which arises from the switching between the parallel and perpendicular configurations of the adjacent collinear AFM state. Furthermore, we carried out angular-dependent measurements using this antiferromagnetic tunnel junction (AFM-TJ) and showed that the magnitude of anisotropic longitudinal magnetoresistance in the AFM-TJ can be controlled by the direction of an external magnetic field. First principles electronic structure calculations corroborate that the collinear antiferromagnetic TJ may produce a substantially large TAMR ratio. The emergence of resonant interfacial states, combined with the tunneling transmission through the MgO barrier and the substantial spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength of Ru, especially when augmented by oxygen doping, leads to the significant enhancement observed in the tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR). Our work not only propels antiferromagnetic materials to the forefront of spintronic device innovation but also unveils a novel paradigm for electrically controlled antiferromagnetic spintronics, auguring transformative advancements in high-speed, low-energy information devices.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
Zhejiang International Studies University (CN), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), National Institute of Standards and Technology (US), Anhui University (CN), California State University, Northridge (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Physical Measurement Laboratory (US), Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (CN), Thales (France) (FR), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA), Beihang University (CN)
National Science Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, California State University, Northridge, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Division of Materials Research
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Magnetic properties of thin films
4.99
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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