Strain-induced antiferromagnetic domain switching via the spin Jahn-Teller effect

Abstract

The spin Jahn-Teller effect, where a degeneracy of magnetic ground states is spontaneously lifted by structural distortions, lends itself to exploitation by the implied magnetoelastic coupling. CoTi2O5 hosts a frustrated topology of magnetic interactions that could realize such coupling, since the observed magnetic ground state requires a spontaneous monoclinic distortion of the crystal. Using resonant elastic x-ray scattering to simultaneously probe the magnetic structure and lattice distortion of CoTi2O5, we demonstrate near complete magnetic domain switching by an applied uniaxial stress that is conjugate to the monoclinic strain. Our results, supported by density functional theory calculations, confirm that CoTi2O5 displays spin Jahn-Teller effects that can be understood in terms of modulated Heisenberg exchange interactions, and demonstrate the potential functionality of spin Jahn-Teller materials in spintronic devices sensitive to uniaxial strain. Published by the American Physical Society 2024