Controlling transport properties in antiferromagnets with broken time reversal symmetry by uniaxial strain

Controlling magnetic order in antiferromagnets is one of the challenging issues in antiferromagnetic spintronics. Emerging antiferromagnets (AFM) with broken time reversal symmetry (BTRS) offer the controllability of magnetic domains via external fields such as the magnetic field and the strain etc. Especially, Piezomagnetic effect, which indicates the linear modulation of magnetization under strain in magnets with BTRS, is attracting much attention recently after it has been demonstrated in the typical AFM with BTRS (e.g., CoF₂, MnF₂ etc.) classified as altermagnets. In metallic AFM with BTRS, piezomagnetic modulation of transport properties is also expected, opening a new perspective of antiferromagnetic spintronics.

In this work, we focus on the effect of uniaxial strain on metallic antiferromagnets with BTRS. Large uniaxial strain is applied by using the flexible substrate. By measuring electronic transport, we observed transport signature of the piezomagnetic effect in the nano-devices. Present results open a pathway toward mechanically programmable and energy-efficient spintronic and quantum devices.