Perspective on antiferromagnetic iridates for spintronics

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) iridates are recently discovered to be a fertile playground for exploring emergent phenomena relevant to the intriguing interplay among multiple degrees of freedom, such as strong spin–orbit coupling, electron correlation, and the crystal field effect. These phenomena offer interesting routes for probing as well as controlling AFM order in iridate, which is essential in AFM spintronics. In this perspective, we will briefly review recent studies on AFM iridates that host large potential for advancing the reading (anisotropic magnetoresistance effect, etc.) and writing (magnetic field control of AFM order, etc.) functionalities of AFM spintronics. We will also discuss promising directions for expanding the research of AFM iridate based spintronics from the perspectives of material growth, manipulation protocol, and characterization technique.