Electrical Switching and Imaging of Antiferromagnetic Spins in Perovskite Epitaxial Thin Films

Electrical control of antiferromagnets is essential for the field of antiferromagnetic spintronics, which promises ultrafast speed and terahertz dynamics. However, the large family of complex oxide antiferromagnets such as perovskites has been largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate electrical switching and detection of Néel vector in LaFeO 3 epitaxial thin films with an epitaxy-enabled biaxial anisotropy, of which the switching behavior is understood by comparing to magnetic field-controlled spin Hall magnetoresistance measurements. The electrical switching is corroborated by imaging of antiferromagnetic domains by using X-ray magnetic linear dichroism photoemission electron microscopy. Electrical switching of 3 and 10 nm LaFeO 3 films was achieved over a wide temperature range of 25–300 K. This work offers an attractive platform for exploration of antiferromagnetic spintronics and other emerging phenomena such as potential insulating altermagnetism.