English

Sub-spin-flop switching of a fully compensated antiferromagnet by magnetic field

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2026-04-20 v2 Materials Science

Abstract

The control of antiferromagnets by magnetic fields represents a fundamental challenge in condensed matter physics, owing to their fully compensated magnetic order and vanishing net magnetization. Conventional methods rely on either uncompensated moments or high-field spin-flop transitions. Here, we demonstrate low-field switching in the fully compensated antiferromagnet CeNiAsO -- a material recently proposed as a candidate for pp-wave magnetism. Using an in-plane magnetic field well below the spin-flop threshold, we selectively stabilize one of two degenerate antiferromagnetic domains with mutually orthogonal sublattice orientations. This field-induced domain selection allows reversible and nonvolatile switching of a giant in-plane resistivity anisotropy up to 35%\sim35\,\% -- a magnitude that far exceeds conventional anisotropy signals driven by spin-orbit coupling. The switching behavior persists across both the low-temperature noncollinear N\'{e}el phase and the higher-temperature collinear spin-density-wave phase, highlighting the universality of the domain-selection mechanism. Our work establishes a practical approach for manipulating compensated antiferromagnets with modest magnetic fields and underscores their potential for high-performance spintronic devices based on giant and switchable resistivity anisotropy.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.07351,
  title  = {Sub-spin-flop switching of a fully compensated antiferromagnet by magnetic field},
  author = {Honglin Zhou and Muyu Wang and Yinina Ma and Xiaoyan Ma and Gang Li and Zihao Tao and Xiquan Zheng and Liqin Yan and Yingying Peng and Ding-Fu Shao and Bo Liu and Shiliang Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.07351},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

7 pages, 5 figures