Control of magnetic order in antiferromagnets is a central challenge in the development of next-generation spintronic devices. Here, we propose and analyze magnetization switching driven by the field-derivative torque (FDT), a torque that originates from the time derivative of an applied THz pulse acting on the staggered order parameter. Using atomistic spin simulations, we show that the field-derivative torque couples efficiently to the Néel vector, enabling deterministic switching without net spin accumulation. Further, we show that using the circularly polarized THz pulse, the FDT-induced magnetization switching reduces the required THz magnetic field by twofold. To this end, we compute the switching and nonswitching areas as a function of THz pulse width, THz magnetic field, and damping of the antiferromagnetic material. We find that the switching and nonswitching areas are completely deterministic in antiferromagnets. Moreover, the switching area increases by about 55% when the FDT is considered.

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• Magnetization switching
• Spin dynamics
• Spin torque
• Antiferromagnets
• Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert equation