The importance of the interface for picosecond spin pumping in antiferromagnet-heavy metal heterostructures

Abstract

By placing an antiferromagnet next to a heavy metal such as platinum, magnetic excitations in the antiferromagnet drive a spin current in the heavy metal, leading to terahertz emission. Here, Kholid et al study the terahertz emission of two antiferromagnets, KCoF3 and KNiF3 with very different magnon frequencies, and find that the opening of a gap in the magnon density of states drastically alters the spin-transfer efficiency.