Oral presentation

Session Information

Location: Science and Cultural Center - FORTH
Day: 2. Thursday 17th
Time: 10:10-10:30
Chairperson: to be announced…

Presentation Details

Presentation Type: Oral presentation
Title: Strain driven domain wall network with chiral topological junctions in an antiferromagnet
Abstract: Materials with antiferromagnetic order have recently emerged as promising candidates in spintronics based on their beneficial characteristics such as vanishing stray fields and ultra-fast dynamics [1]. At the same time more complex localized non-coplanar magnetic states as for instance skyrmions are in the focus of applications due to their intriguing properties such as the topological Hall effect [2]. Recently a conceptual shift has occurred to envision the use of such magnetic defects not only in 1D racetrack devices, but to also exploit their unique properties in 2D networks. Here we use local strain in a collinear antiferromagnet to induce topological domain wall junctions, which connect in a very specific way to form extended networks. We combine spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy with density functional theory to characterize the different building blocks of the network, and unravel the origin of the handedness of the triple-junctions and the size of the associated emerging topological orbital moments [3]. References: [1] Jungwirth, T., Marti, X., Wadley, P. et al., Antiferromagnetic spintronics. Nature Nanotech 11, 231–241 (2016) [2] Nagaosa, N., Tokura, Y., Topological properties and dynamics of magnetic skyrmions. Nature Nanotech 8, 899–911 (2013). [3] Paper for the above abstract: Saxena, V., Gutzeit, M., Rodríguez-Sota, A. et al. Strain-driven domain wall network with chiral junctions in an antiferromagnet, Nature Commun 16, 10808 (2025). Funding: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 955671 (SPEAR) and from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft project numbers 402843438 and 418425860.

Presenter

Dr Vishesh Saxena
Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPCMS, France | France

Authors

1. Saxena, Vishesh | Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPCMS, UMR 7504, F-67000 Strasbourg, France.
2. Gutzeit, Mara | Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
3. Rodríguez-Sota, Arturo | {Affiliation3:value}
4. Haldar, Soumyajyoti | Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
5. Zahner, Felix | Institute of Nanostructure and Solid State Physics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
6. Wiesendanger, Roland | Institute of Nanostructure and Solid State Physics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
7. Kubetzka, André | Institute of Nanostructure and Solid State Physics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
 8. Heinze, Stefan | Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
 9. von Bergmann, Kirsten | Institute of Nanostructure and Solid State Physics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany