Coexistence of Magnon-Induced and Rashba-Induced Unidirectional Magnetoresistance in Antiferromagnets
Zhenyi Zheng, Youdi Gu, Zhizhong Zhang, Xiwen Zhang, Tieyang Zhao, Huihui Li, Lizhu Ren, Lanxin Jia, Rui Xiao, Hengan Zhou, Qihan Zhang, Shu Shi, Yue Zhang, Chao Zhao, Lei Shen, Weisheng Zhao, Jingsheng Chen
Abstract
Unidirectional magnetoresistance (UMR) has been intensively studied in ferromagnetic systems, which is mainly induced by spin-dependent and spin-flip electron scattering. Yet, UMR in antiferromagnetic (AFM) systems has not been fully understood to date. In this work, we reported UMR in a YFeO 3 /Pt heterostructure where YFeO 3 is a typical AFM insulator. Magnetic-field dependence and temperature dependence of transport measurements indicate that magnon dynamics and interfacial Rashba splitting are two individual origins for AFM UMR, which is consistent with the UMR theory in ferromagnetic systems. We further established a comprehensive theoretical model that incorporates micromagnetic simulation, density functional theory calculation, and the tight-binding model, which explain the observed AFM UMR phenomenon well. Our work sheds light on the intrinsic transport property of the AFM system and may facilitate the development of AFM spintronic devices.