Picosecond Electric-Field-Induced Switching of Antiferromagnets

Antiferromagnetic spintronics are hoped to enable ultrafast, high-density memory arrays working at picosecond time scales, but current methods to switch the antiferromagnetic order cost a lot of energy. This work proposes an ultrafast yet low-energy method for switching the N\'eel vector of an antiferromagnetic layer, by reconfiguration of the anisotropy energy when an electric field is applied. Theoretical analysis shows the possibility of switching the N\'eel vector of a 50-nm circular antiferromagnetic element with an energy dissipation of 250 aJ in less than 30 ps, without any current-induced torque.