Published in

Nature Research, Nature Materials, 2024

DOI: 10.1038/s41563-024-01806-2

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Spatially reconfigurable antiferromagnetic states in topologically rich free-standing nanomembranes

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

AbstractAntiferromagnets hosting real-space topological textures are promising platforms to model fundamental ultrafast phenomena and explore spintronics. However, they have only been epitaxially fabricated on specific symmetry-matched substrates, thereby preserving their intrinsic magneto-crystalline order. This curtails their integration with dissimilar supports, restricting the scope of fundamental and applied investigations. Here we circumvent this limitation by designing detachable crystalline antiferromagnetic nanomembranes of α-Fe2O3. First, we show—via transmission-based antiferromagnetic vector mapping—that flat nanomembranes host a spin-reorientation transition and rich topological phenomenology. Second, we exploit their extreme flexibility to demonstrate the reconfiguration of antiferromagnetic states across three-dimensional membrane folds resulting from flexure-induced strains. Finally, we combine these developments using a controlled manipulator to realize the strain-driven non-thermal generation of topological textures at room temperature. The integration of such free-standing antiferromagnetic layers with flat/curved nanostructures could enable spin texture designs via magnetoelastic/geometric effects in the quasi-static and dynamical regimes, opening new explorations into curvilinear antiferromagnetism and unconventional computing.