Argonne National Laboratory

Research Highlight | Center for Nanoscale Materials

Spin-mediated shear oscillators in a van der Waals antiferromagnet
In a Nature paper, scientists present results from ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy analyses to investigate the dynamic behavior of a self-supporting antiferromagnetic film.
Experimental setup for measuring ultrafast photoexcited dynamics in FePS₃ with electrons. Bend contours in the material oscillate after laser excitation at the nm/ps scale. This effect decreases as the material is warmed through the Néel temperature.

Scientific Achievement

For antiferromagnets without net magnetic moment, how spin ordering couples to macroscopic movement remains elusive. Here we observed a seesaw-like rotation of reciprocal lattice peaks of an antiferromagnetic nanolayer film.

Significance and Impact

This work is the first microscopic view of spin-mediated mechanical motion of an antiferromagnet, and it also identifies a new route towards realizing high-frequency resonators up to the millimeter band.

Research Details

  • Using a suite of ultrafast diffraction and microscopy techniques, we directly visualize this spin-driven rotation in reciprocal space at the nanoscale. This motion corresponds to interlayer shear in real space

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06279-y

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    The Center for Nanoscale Materials is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale supported by the DOE Office of Science. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit https://​sci​ence​.osti​.gov/​U​s​e​r​-​F​a​c​i​l​i​t​i​e​s​/​U​s​e​r​-​F​a​c​i​l​i​t​i​e​s​-​a​t​-​a​-​G​lance.

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