TY - JOUR
T1 - Electrical manipulation of centrosymmetric antiferromagnets by Néel torque
AU - Cao, Jin
AU - Wu, Weikang
AU - Liu, Huiying
AU - Lai, Shen
AU - Xiao, Cong
AU - Niu, Qian
AU - Xie, X. C.
AU - Yang, Shengyuan A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved. This article is available under the terms of the IOP-Standard License.
PY - 2026/9
Y1 - 2026/9
N2 - Electric control of Néel vector is a central task of antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics. The major scheme so far has relied on the Néel spin–orbit torque, which however is restricted to AFMs with broken inversion symmetry. Here, we explore a nonlinear Néel torque, uniquely enabling electric control in the vast class of centrosymmetric AFMs including altermagnets, where the existing scheme fails. This new type of Néel torque operates in both AFM metals and insulators, and can appear in all collinear AFM configurations in all the 122 magnetic point groups. Combined with first-principles calculations, we predict significant effects in centrosymmetric AFMs MnRh, MnBi (Formula presented) (Formula presented) Te (Formula presented) (Formula presented) and altermagnet CrSb. Our work offers a new and general strategy for Néel torque, significantly broadens the scope of electric control of AFM systems, and opens a new arena in the field of AFM spintronics.
AB - Electric control of Néel vector is a central task of antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics. The major scheme so far has relied on the Néel spin–orbit torque, which however is restricted to AFMs with broken inversion symmetry. Here, we explore a nonlinear Néel torque, uniquely enabling electric control in the vast class of centrosymmetric AFMs including altermagnets, where the existing scheme fails. This new type of Néel torque operates in both AFM metals and insulators, and can appear in all collinear AFM configurations in all the 122 magnetic point groups. Combined with first-principles calculations, we predict significant effects in centrosymmetric AFMs MnRh, MnBi (Formula presented) (Formula presented) Te (Formula presented) (Formula presented) and altermagnet CrSb. Our work offers a new and general strategy for Néel torque, significantly broadens the scope of electric control of AFM systems, and opens a new arena in the field of AFM spintronics.
KW - altermagnets
KW - antiferromagnetic spintronics
KW - first-principles calculations
KW - nonlinear Néel torque
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105051169875
U2 - 10.1088/1361-6633/aea365
DO - 10.1088/1361-6633/aea365
M3 - 文章
C2 - 42705259
AN - SCOPUS:105051169875
SN - 0034-4885
VL - 89
JO - Reports on Progress in Physics
JF - Reports on Progress in Physics
IS - 9
M1 - 098005
ER -