Electric voltage generation by antiferromagnetic dynamics

We theoretically demonstrate dc and ac electric voltage generation due to spin motive forces originating from domain wall motion and magnetic resonance, respectively, in two-sublattice antiferromagnets. Our theory accounts for the canting between the sublattice magnetizations, the nonadiabatic electron spin dynamics, and the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, with the intersublattice electron dynamics treated as a perturbation. This work suggests a way to observe and explore the dynamics of antiferromagnetic textures by electrical means, an important aspect in the emerging field of antiferromagnetic spintronics, where both manipulation and detection of antiferromagnets are needed.

Figure 1

(a) Schematic of the present system where SMF is induced by one-dimensional DW motion. See the main text for the definitions of the symbols. (b) The DW velocity and (c) the electric voltage between the wire edges as functions of the applied magnetic field. The solid lines plot Eqs. (12) and (13), while the red circles are the results of numerical simulations.

Figure 2

(a) Schematic of the present system of generating SMF by AFMR. See the main text for the definitions of the symbols. (b), (c) Time dependence of the electric voltage $V$ in Eq. (14) for the case of (b) ${\lambda }_1={\lambda }_2$ and (c) ${\lambda }_1=-{\lambda }_2$.