Optical Readout of the Néel Vector in the Metallic Antiferromagnet <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"><mml:msub><mml:mi>Mn</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub><mml:mi>Au</mml:mi></mml:math>
Vladimir Grigorev, Mariia Filianina, Stanislav Yu. Bodnar, Sergei Sobolev, Nilabha Bhattacharjee, Satya Bommanaboyena, Yaryna Lytvynenko, Yurii Skourski, Dirk Fuchs, Mathias Kläui, Martin Jourdan, Jure Demsar
Abstract
Metallic antiferromagnets featuring broken inversion symmetry---Mn${}_{2}$Au in particular---are appealing for spintronic devices, but an effective readout scheme for the direction of the N\'eel vector is required. Here a team of researchers uses polarization-modulation spectroscopy to isolate the near-infrared magnetic linear dichroism (MLD) of Mn${}_{2}$Au. The MLD seems to be the result of band-structure anisotropy induced by spin-orbit coupling, and the corresponding anisotropy in interband optical transitions. Such a detection mechanism can be used for ultrafast optical readout of the N\'eel vector, and thus the information stored in the alloy's staggered magnetization.