共线反铁磁和非共线反铁磁自旋的外场操控

Nowadays, it is the information age and the total amount of digital information is explosively increasing. The fast development of big data, cloud computation and artificial intelligence objectively demands more powerful performance of memory devices. However, traditional spintronic devices with ferromagnetic materials show obvious limitations. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop high-speed, low-power, high-density and strong-magnetic-field-insensitive memory devices. Antiferromagnetic spintronics came into being under this background. According to the spin structure, antiferromagnetic materials can be classified into two general classes: collinear antiferromagnets and noncollinear antiferromagnets. This review article summarizes various means to modulating antiferromagnetic spins such as magnetic fields, spin-orbit torque induced by an electric current, electric fields applied on the ionic liquid and piezoelectric substrates, and hydrostatic pressure. As a result, the anomalous Hall effect, exchange bias and longitudinal resistance can be manipulated reversibly. Moreover, this review points out the differences and similarities among ferromagnetic materials, collinear and noncollinear antiferromagnetic materials. Finally, the potential of antiferromagnetic materials for future information technology is also discussed.