A neglected mechanism in antiferromagnets may be key to spintronics

Enormous efforts are being made worldwide in a technological field that could far surpass the capabilities of conventional electronics: Spintronics. Instead of operating based on the collective movement of charged particles (electrons), spintronic devices could perform memory storage and data transmission by manipulating spin, an intrinsic property of elementary particles related to angular momentum and from which many magnetic characteristics in materials arise. Unfortunately, controlling spin ...