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Observations of orthogonal orientations demonstrate the development of banded contrast features on inclined {-1-1-1}B planes for the [110] projection within micron thick samples, attributed to a compositional fluctuation in the Mn content. The relationship of Mn content and layer critical thickness for the onset of precipitate and stacking fault formation is investigated. The formation of a Mn-O layer at the surface of the samples is also observed. The growth of GaMnN/(001)GaAs heterostructures with and without AlN/GaN buffer layers is also compared. Layers without buffer layers show MnAs inclusions into the GaAs, with a reduced Mn content of the GaMnN layer significantly below the nominal composition. The use of AlN/GaN buffer layers is found to greatly reduce the density of these MnAs inclusions, retaining a higher proportion of the Mn within the epilayer.

Picosecond duration compressive and shear phonon wave packets injected into (311) GaAs slabs transform after propagation through ∼1 mm into chirped acoustic pulses with a frequency increasing in time due to phonon dispersion. By probing the temporal optical response to coherent phonons in a near surface layer of the GaAs slab, we show that phonon chirping opens a transformational route for high-sensitivity terahertz and subterahertz phonon spectroscopy. Temporal gating of the chirped phonon pulse allows the selection of a narrow band phonon spectrum with a central frequency up to 0.4 THz for longitudinal and 0.2 THz for transverse phonons.

Antiferromagnets have several favourable properties as active elements in spintronic devices, including ultra-fast dynamics, zero stray fields and insensitivity to external magnetic fields. Tetragonal CuMnAs is a testbed system in which the antiferromagnetic order parameter can be switched reversibly at ambient conditions using electrical currents. In previous experiments, orthogonal in-plane current pulses were used to induce 90° rotations of antiferromagnetic domains and demonstrate the operation of all-electrical memory bits in a multi-terminal geometry. Here, we demonstrate that antiferromagnetic domain walls can be manipulated to realize stable and reproducible domain changes using only two electrical contacts. This is achieved by using the polarity of the current to switch the sign of the current-induced effective field acting on the antiferromagnetic sublattices. The resulting reversible domain and domain wall reconfigurations are imaged using X-ray magnetic linear dichroism microscopy, and can also be detected electrically. Switching by domain-wall motion can occur at much lower current densities than those needed for coherent domain switching.

Using x-ray magnetic circular and linear dichroism techniques, we demonstrate a collinear exchange coupling between an epitaxial antiferromagnet, tetragonal CuMnAs, and an Fe surface layer. A small uncompensated Mn magnetic moment is observed which is antiparallel to the Fe magnetization. The staggered magnetization of the 5 nm thick CuMnAs layer is rotatable under small magnetic fields, due to the interlayer exchange coupling. This allows us to obtain the x-ray magnetic linear dichroism spectra for different crystalline orientations of CuMnAs in the (001) plane. This is a key parameter for enabling the understanding of domain structures in CuMnAs imaged using x-ray magnetic linear dichroism microscopy techniques.

Antiferromagnets offer a unique combination of properties including the radiation and magnetic field hardness, the absence of stray magnetic fields, and the spin-dynamics frequency scale in terahertz. Recent experiments have demonstrated that relativistic spin-orbit torques can provide the means for an efficient electric control of antiferromagnetic moments. Here we show that elementary-shape memory cells fabricated from a single-layer antiferromagnet CuMnAs deposited on a III–V or Si substrate have deterministic multi-level switching characteristics. They allow for counting and recording thousands of input pulses and responding to pulses of lengths downscaled to hundreds of picoseconds. To demonstrate the compatibility with common microelectronic circuitry, we implemented the antiferromagnetic bit cell in a standard printed circuit board managed and powered at ambient conditions by a computer via a USB interface. Our results open a path towards specialized embedded memory-logic applications and ultra-fast components based on antiferromagnets.

Domain wall motion driven by ultra-short laser pulses is a prerequisite for envisaged low-power spintronics combining storage of information in magnetoelectronic devices with high speed and long distance transmission of information encoded in circularly polarized light. Here we demonstrate the conversion of the circular polarization of incident femtosecond laser pulses into inertial displacement of a domain wall in a ferromagnetic semiconductor. In our study we combine electrical measurements and magneto-optical imaging of the domain wall displacement with micromagnetic simulations. The optical spin transfer torque acts over a picosecond recombination time of the spin polarized photo-carriers which only leads to a deformation of the internal domain wall structure. We show that subsequent depinning and micro-meter distance displacement without an applied magnetic field or any other external stimuli can only occur due to the inertia of the domain wall.

Time-resolved pump-probe magneto-optical method was used to study Fe/CuMnAs bilayer. The probe polarization dependence was used to identify and separate parts of detected signals due to Faraday and Voigt magneto-optical effects that provide information about pump-induced magnetization precession in ferromagnetic (FM) Fe and demagnetization in antiferromagnetic (AF) CuMnAs layers, respectively. We observed a 180 deg phase shift in the precession signal at non-zero magnetic field that we interpreted as a signature of the magnetic anisotropy induced in the FM by the adjacent AF layer. Unlike in x-ray magnetic linear dichroism experiments, we did not observe any significant reorientation of magnetic moments in CuMnAs by external magnetic field due to the interlayer exchange coupling with Fe. Differences between these two experimental techniques, providing the distinct pictures, are discussed.

We report on a study of ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As/(Al,Ga,Mn)As bilayers using magnetometry and polarized neutron reflectivity (PNR). From depth-resolved characterization of the magnetic structure obtained by PNR, we concluded that the (Ga,Mn)As and (Al,Ga,Mn)As layers have in-plane and perpendicular-to-plane magnetic easy axes, respectively, with weak interlayer coupling. Therefore, the layer magnetizations align perpendicular to each other under low magnetic fields and parallel at high fields.

Tetragonal CuMnAs is an antiferromagnetic material with favourable properties for applications in spintronics. Using a combination of neutron diffraction and x-ray magnetic linear dichroism, we determine the spin axis and magnetic structure in tetragonal CuMnAs, and reveal the presence of an interfacial uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. From the temperature-dependence of the neutron diffraction intensities, the Néel temperature is shown to be (480 ± 5) K. Ab initio calculations indicate a weak anisotropy in the (ab) plane for bulk crystals, with a large anisotropy energy barrier between in-plane and perpendicular-to-plane directions.

Recent breakthroughs in electrical detection and manipulation of antiferromagnets have opened a new avenue in the research of non-volatile spintronic devices.1-10 Antiparallel spin sublattices in antiferromagnets, producing zero dipolar fields, lead to the insensitivity to magnetic field perturbations, multi-level stability, ultrafast spin dynamics and other favorable characteristics which may find utility in fields ranging from magnetic memories to optical signal processing. However, the absence of a net magnetic moment and the ultra-short magnetization dynamics timescales make antiferromagnets notoriously difficult to study by common magnetometers or magnetic resonance techniques. In this paper we demonstrate the experimental determination of the Néel vector in a thin film of antiferromagnetic CuMnAs9,10 which is the prominent material used in the first realization of antiferromagnetic memory chips.10 We employ a femtosecond pump-probe magneto-optical experiment based on magnetic linear dichroism. This table-top optical method is considerably more accessible than the traditionally employed large scale facility techniques like neutron diffraction11 and Xray magnetic dichroism measurements.12-14 This optical technique allows an unambiguous direct determination of the Néel vector orientation in thin antiferromagnetic films utilized in devices directly from measured data without fitting to a theoretical model.

The magnetic order in antiferromagnetic materials is hard to control with external magnetic fields. Using X-ray Magnetic Linear Dichroism microscopy, we show that staggered effective fields generated by electrical current can induce modification of the antiferromagnetic domain structure in microdevices fabricated from a tetragonal CuMnAs thin film. A clear correlation between the average domain orientation and the anisotropy of the electrical resistance is demonstrated, with both showing reproducible switching in response to orthogonally applied current pulses. However, the behavior is inhomogeneous at the submicron level, highlighting the complex nature of the switching process in multi-domain antiferromagnetic films.

Antiferromagnets are hard to control by external magnetic fields because of the alternating directions of magnetic moments on individual atoms and the resulting zero net magnetization. However, relativistic quantum mechanics allows for generating current-induced internal fields whose sign alternates with the periodicity of the antiferromagnetic lattice. Using these fields, which couple strongly to the antiferromagnetic order, we demonstrate room-temperature electrical switching between stable configurations in antiferromagnetic CuMnAs thin-film devices by applied current with magnitudes of order 106 ampere per square centimeter. Electrical writing is combined in our solid-state memory with electrical readout and the stored magnetic state is insensitive to and produces no external magnetic field perturbations, which illustrates the unique merits of antiferromagnets for spintronics.

We investigate the role of lithographically-induced strain relaxation in a micron-scaled device fabricated from epitaxial thin films of the magnetostrictive alloy Fe81Ga19. The strain relaxation due to lithographic patterning induces a magnetic anisotropy that competes with the magnetocrystalline and shape induced anisotropy to play a crucial role in stabilising a flux-closing domain pattern. We use magnetic imaging, micromagnetic calculations and linear elastic modelling to investigate a region close to the edges of an etched structure. This highly-strained edge region has a significant influence on the magnetic domain configuration due to an induced magnetic anisotropy resulting from the inverse magnetostriction effect. We investigate the competition between the strain-induced and shape-induced anisotropy energies, and the resultant stable domain configurations, as the width of the bar is reduced to the nanoscale range. Understanding this behaviour will be important when designing hybrid magneto-electric spintronic devices based on highly magnetostrictive materials.

The UK National Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Metrology is one of four flagship initiatives in the UK National of Quantum Technology Program. As part of a 20-year vision it translates laboratory demonstrations to deployable practical devices, with game-changing miniaturized components and prototypes that transform the state-of-the-art for quantum sensors and metrology. It brings together experts from the Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow, Nottingham, Southampton, Strathclyde and Sussex, NPL and currently links to over 15 leading international academic institutions and over 70 companies to build the supply chains and routes to market needed to bring 10–1000x improvements in sensing applications. It seeks, and is open to, additional partners for new application development and creates a point of easy open access to the facilities and supply chains that it stimulates or nurtures.

For the prototype diluted ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As, there is a fundamental concern about the electronic states near the Fermi level, i.e., whether the Fermi level resides in a well-separated impurity band derived from Mn doping (impurity-band model) or in the valence band that is already merged with the Mn-derived impurity band (valence-band model). We investigate this question by carefully shifting the Fermi level by means of carrier compensation. We use helium-ion implantation, a standard industry technology, to precisely compensate the hole doping of GaAs-based diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors while keeping the Mn concentration constant. We monitor the change of Curie temperature (TC) and conductivity. For a broad range of samples including (Ga,Mn)As and (Ga,Mn)(As,P) with various Mn and P concentrations, we observe a smooth decrease of TC with carrier compensation over a wide temperature range while the conduction is changed from metallic to insulating. The existence of TC below 10 K is also confirmed in heavily compensated samples. Our experimental results are naturally explained within the valence-band picture.

In this work, we show that aluminium doped with low concentrations of magnetic impurities can be used to fabricate quantum devices with intrinsic cooling capabilities. We fabricate single electron transistors made of aluminium doped with 2% Mn by using a standard multi angle evaporation technique and show that the quantity of metal used to fabricate the devices generates enough cooling power to achieve a drop of 160 mK in the electron temperature at the base temperature of our cryostat (300 mK). The cooling mechanism is based on the magneto-caloric effect from the diluted Mn moments.

Magnetization switching at the interface between ferromagnetic and paramagnetic metals, controlled by current-induced torques, could be exploited in magnetic memory technologies. Compelling questions arise regarding the role played in the switching by the spin Hall effect in the paramagnet and by the spin–orbit torque originating from the broken inversion symmetry at the interface. Of particular importance are the antidamping components of these current-induced torques acting against the equilibrium-restoring Gilbert damping of the magnetization dynamics. Here, we report the observation of an antidamping spin–orbit torque that stems from the Berry curvature, in analogy to the origin of the intrinsic spin Hall effect. We chose the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As as a material system because its crystal inversion asymmetry allows us to measure bare ferromagnetic films, rather than ferromagnetic paramagnetic heterostructures,eliminating by design any spin Hall effect contribution. We provide an intuitive picture of the Berry curvature origin of this antidamping spin–orbit torque as well as its microscopic modelling. We expect the Berry curvature spin–orbit torque to be of comparable strength to the spin-Hall effect-driven antidamping torque in ferromagnets interfaced with paramagnets with strong intrinsic spin Hall effect.

We demonstrate optical manipulation of the position of a domain wall in a dilute magnetic semiconductor,GaMnAsP. Two main contributions are identified. First, photocarrier spin exerts a spin-transfer torque on the magnetization via the exchange interaction. The direction of the domain-wall motion can be controlled using the helicity of the laser. Second, the domain wall is attracted to the hot spot generated by the focused laser. Unlike magnetic-field-driven domain-wall depinning, these mechanisms directly drive domain-wall motion, providing an optical tweezerlike ability to position and locally probe domain walls.

In this paper, we use simultaneous magnetometry and electrical transport measurements to critically examine ways in which the Curie temperature (TC) values have been determined in studies of dilute magnetic semiconductors. We show that, in sufficiently homogeneous samples, TC can be accurately determined from remanent magnetization and magnetic susceptibility and from the positions of the peak in the temperature derivative of the resistivity. We also show that the peak of the resistivity does not occur at TC, as illustrated by a (Ga,Mn)As sample for which the peak of the resistivity is at 21361K when TC is only 17861K

We report on the determination of micromagnetic parameters of epilayers of the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As, which has an easy axis in the sample plane, and (Ga,Mn)(As,P), which has an easy axis perpendicular to the sample plane.We use an optical analog of ferromagnetic resonancewhere the laser-pulse-induced precession of magnetization is measured directly in the time domain. By the analysis of a single set of pump-and-probe magneto-optical data, we determined the magnetic anisotropy fields, the spin stiffness, and the Gilbert damping constant in these two materials. We show that incorporation of 10% of phosphorus in (Ga,Mn)As with 6% of manganese leads not only to the expected sign change of the perpendicular-to-plane anisotropy field but also to an increase of the Gilbert damping and to a reduction of the spin stiffness. The observed changes in the micromagnetic parameters upon incorporating P in (Ga,Mn)As are consistent with the reduced hole density, conductivity, and Curie temperature of the (Ga,Mn)(As,P) material.We also show that the apparent magnetization precession damping is stronger for the n=1 spinwave resonance mode than for the n=0 uniform magnetization precession mode.

We realize resonant driving of the magnetization precession by monochromatic phonons in a thin ferromagnetic layer embedded into a phononic Fabry-Pérot resonator. A femtosecond laser pulse excites resonant phonon modes of the structure in the 10−40 GHz frequency range. By applying an external magnetic field, we tune the precession frequency relative to the frequency of the phonons localized in the cavity and observe an enormous increase in the amplitude of the magnetization precession when the frequencies of free magnetization precession and phonons localized in the cavity are equal.

Multiferroic composite materials, consisting of coupled ferromagnetic and piezoelectric phases, are of great importance in the drive towards creating faster, smaller and more energy efficient devices for information and communications technologies. Such devices require thin ferromagnetic films with large magnetostriction and narrow microwave resonance linewidths. Both properties are often degraded, compared to bulk materials, due to structural imperfections and interface effects in the thin films. We report the development of epitaxial thin films of Galfenol (Fe81Ga19) with magnetostriction as large as the best reported values for bulk material. This allows the magnetic anisotropy and microwave resonant frequency to be tuned by voltage-induced strain, with a larger magnetoelectric response and a narrower linewidth than any previously reported Galfenol thin films. The combination of these properties make epitaxial thin films excellent candidates for developing tunable devices for magnetic information storage, processing and microwave communications.

The growth of cubic (Ga,Mn)N/(001)GaAs heterostructures by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy has been appraised as a function of Ga:N ratio, Mn concentration and growth temperature. The combined analytical techniques of EFTEM, EDX, CBED and dark field imaging have been used to appraise the Mn distributions within (Ga,Mn)N epilayers. Improved incorporation efficiency of Mn is associated with growth under N-rich conditions, but Mn incorporation may be enhanced under Ga-rich conditions at reduced growth temperatures. The surfactant behaviour of Mn during the growth of this spintronic system determines the resultant alloy composition.

Observations of orthogonal orientations demonstrate the development of banded contrast features on inclined {-1-1-1}B planes for the [110] projection within micron thick samples, attributed to a compositional fluctuation in the Mn content. The relationship of Mn content and layer critical thickness for the onset of precipitate and stacking fault formation is investigated. The formation of a Mn-O layer at the surface of the samples is also observed. The growth of GaMnN/(001)GaAs heterostructures with and without AlN/GaN buffer layers is also compared. Layers without buffer layers show MnAs inclusions into the GaAs, with a reduced Mn content of the GaMnN layer significantly below the nominal composition. The use of AlN/GaN buffer layers is found to greatly reduce the density of these MnAs inclusions, retaining a higher proportion of the Mn within the epilayer.

The growth of cubic (Ga,Mn)N/(001)GaAs heterostructures by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy has been appraised as a function of Ga:N ratio, Mn concentration and growth temperature. The combined analytical techniques of EFTEM, EDX, CBED and dark field imaging have been used to appraise the Mn distributions within (Ga,Mn)N epilayers. Improved incorporation efficiency of Mn is associated with growth under N-rich conditions, but Mn incorporation may be enhanced under Ga-rich conditions at reduced growth temperatures. The surfactant behaviour of Mn during the growth of this spintronic system determines the resultant alloy composition.

Observations of orthogonal orientations demonstrate the development of banded contrast features on inclined {-1-1-1}B planes for the [110] projection within micron thick samples, attributed to a compositional fluctuation in the Mn content. The relationship of Mn content and layer critical thickness for the onset of precipitate and stacking fault formation is investigated. The formation of a Mn-O layer at the surface of the samples is also observed. The growth of GaMnN/(001)GaAs heterostructures with and without AlN/GaN buffer layers is also compared. Layers without buffer layers show MnAs inclusions into the GaAs, with a reduced Mn content of the GaMnN layer significantly below the nominal composition. The use of AlN/GaN buffer layers is found to greatly reduce the density of these MnAs inclusions, retaining a higher proportion of the Mn within the epilayer.

The growth of cubic (Ga,Mn)N/(001)GaAs heterostructures by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy has been appraised as a function of Ga:N ratio, Mn concentration and growth temperature. The combined analytical techniques of EFTEM, EDX, CBED and dark field imaging have been used to appraise the Mn distributions within (Ga,Mn)N epilayers. Improved incorporation efficiency of Mn is associated with growth under N-rich conditions, but Mn incorporation may be enhanced under Ga-rich conditions at reduced growth temperatures. The surfactant behaviour of Mn during the growth of this spintronic system determines the resultant alloy composition.

Observations of orthogonal orientations demonstrate the development of banded contrast features on inclined {-1-1-1}B planes for the [110] projection within micron thick samples, attributed to a compositional fluctuation in the Mn content. The relationship of Mn content and layer critical thickness for the onset of precipitate and stacking fault formation is investigated. The formation of a Mn-O layer at the surface of the samples is also observed. The growth of GaMnN/(001)GaAs heterostructures with and without AlN/GaN buffer layers is also compared. Layers without buffer layers show MnAs inclusions into the GaAs, with a reduced Mn content of the GaMnN layer significantly below the nominal composition. The use of AlN/GaN buffer layers is found to greatly reduce the density of these MnAs inclusions, retaining a higher proportion of the Mn within the epilayer.

Observations of orthogonal orientations demonstrate the development of banded contrast features on inclined {-1-1-1}B planes for the [110] projection within micron thick samples, attributed to a compositional fluctuation in the Mn content. The relationship of Mn content and layer critical thickness for the onset of precipitate and stacking fault formation is investigated. The formation of a Mn-O layer at the surface of the samples is also observed. The growth of GaMnN/(001)GaAs heterostructures with and without AlN/GaN buffer layers is also compared. Layers without buffer layers show MnAs inclusions into the GaAs, with a reduced Mn content of the GaMnN layer significantly below the nominal composition. The use of AlN/GaN buffer layers is found to greatly reduce the density of these MnAs inclusions, retaining a higher proportion of the Mn within the epilayer.

The growth of cubic (Ga,Mn)N/(001)GaAs heterostructures by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy has been appraised as a function of Ga:N ratio, Mn concentration and growth temperature. The combined analytical techniques of EFTEM, EDX, CBED and dark field imaging have been used to appraise the Mn distributions within (Ga,Mn)N epilayers. Improved incorporation efficiency of Mn is associated with growth under N-rich conditions, but Mn incorporation may be enhanced under Ga-rich conditions at reduced growth temperatures. The surfactant behaviour of Mn during the growth of this spintronic system determines the resultant alloy composition.