Scientific Achievement
Researchers in the Quantum Materials program uncovered the mechanism by which local disturbances (or “ripples”) propagate over large distances in a highly ordered (antiferromagnetic) pattern of electron spins.
Significance and Impact
Understanding the mechanism that enables spin propagation leads to design rules for future applications of antiferromagnets to coherent transport of spin information over large distances.
Research Details
- Used femtosecond pulses of light to both generate and detect dynamic local perturbations of antiferromagnetic order in CrSBr
- Time-resolved snapshots of spin wavepacket propagation were obtained by spatial scanning of a probe pulse focus with respect to the pump, revealing that spin wavepackets spread just as ripples propagate from a pebble dropped into a pond of water
Publication Details
Y. Sun, F. Meng, Ch. Lee, A. Soll, H. Zhang, R. Ramesh, J. Yao, Z. Sofer, J. Orenstein, Nature Physics (2024).
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-024-02387-2
Read the news article on this paper.
