Antiferromagnetic metal phase in an electron-doped rare-earth nickelate

• Published in: Nature physics 2023-04, Vol.19 (4), p.522-528
• Main Authors: Song, Qi, Doyle, Spencer, Pan, Grace A., El Baggari, Ismail, Ferenc Segedin, Dan, Córdova Carrizales, Denisse, Nordlander, Johanna, Tzschaschel, Christian, Ehrets, James R., Hasan, Zubia, El-Sherif, Hesham, Krishna, Jyoti, Hanson, Chase, LaBollita, Harrison, Bostwick, Aaron, Jozwiak, Chris, Rotenberg, Eli, Xu, Su-Yang, Lanzara, Alessandra, N’Diaye, Alpha T., Heikes, Colin A., Liu, Yaohua, Paik, Hanjong, Brooks, Charles M., Pamuk, Betül, Heron, John T., Shafer, Padraic, Ratcliff, William D., Botana, Antia S., Moreschini, Luca, Mundy, Julia A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/301/119/995; 639/766/119/544; 639/766/119/997; Antiferromagnetism; Atomic; Classical and Continuum Physics; Complex Systems; Condensed Matter Physics; Disproportionation; Earth; Electronic properties and materials; Fermi surfaces; Hall effect; magnetic properties and materials; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Mathematical and Computational Physics; Molecular; Nickel; Optical and Plasma Physics; Phase diagrams; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Rare earth elements; Spectrum analysis; Spin structure; Spintronics; surfaces, interfaces and thin films; Temperature; Theoretical; Thin films
• ISSN: 1745-2473; 1745-2481
• DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01907-2

Long viewed as passive elements, antiferromagnetic materials have emerged as promising candidates for spintronic devices due to their insensitivity to external fields and potential for high-speed switching. Recent work exploiting spin and orbital effects has identified ways to electrically control and probe the spins in metallic antiferromagnets, especially in non-collinear or non-centrosymmetric spin structures. The rare-earth nickelate NdNiO 3 is known to be a non-collinear antiferromagnet in which the onset of antiferromagnetic ordering is concomitant with a transition to an insulating state. Here we find that for low electron doping, the magnetic order on the nickel site is preserved, whereas electronically, a new metallic phase is induced. We show that this metallic phase has a Fermi surface that is mostly gapped by an electronic reconstruction driven by bond disproportionation. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability to write to and read from the spin structure via a large zero-field planar Hall effect. Our results expand the already rich phase diagram of rare-earth nickelates and may enable spintronics applications in this family of correlated oxides. Films of the correlated oxide NdNiO 3 form a metallic antiferromagnetic phase that can be identified using electrical currents, raising the prospect of applications in spintronics.