Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 30: Functional Antiferromagnetism

MA 30.3: Talk

Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 10:00–10:15, POT/0151

Antiferromagnetic Writing by Magneto-electric Field in Cr₂O₃ — Nikolai Khokhlov¹, •Aleksandr Buzdakov², Timur Gareev¹, Anatoly Zvezdin³, Sergey Artyukhin², and Aleksei Kimel¹ — ¹Radboud University Nijmegen, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Nijmegen 6525 AJ, The Netherlands — ²Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, Genova 16163, Italy — ³Moscow, Russia

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics is a promising platform for next-generation storage, offering high domain wall velocities and immunity to stray fields. However, a bottleneck remains: the lack of a low-power method to write arbitrary domains without high-density currents and Joule heating. Here, we demonstrate full, non-volatile control of AFM domains in magnetoelectric Cr₂O₃ at room temperature. Utilizing an electrically charged needle to "draw" domains under a magnetic bias, we find that approaching the Néel temperature is critical. In this regime, domain walls lose their elastic "rubber band" behavior, allowing complex shapes to stabilize. We rationalize this via the Larkin length, establishing that reliable storage requires a Larkin length smaller than the bit size. Our findings provide a model for domain writability in insulating antiferromagnets, paving the way for low-energy, electrically controlled AFM memory.

Keywords: Antiferromagnet; Magnetoelectric effect; Larkin length; Domain wall