- Accepted Paper
Terahertz switching of two-dimensional antiferromagnetic order
Phys. Rev. Lett. - Accepted 14 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kj1q-h9pw
Phys. Rev. Lett. - Accepted 14 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/kj1q-h9pw
Identifying the transition pathway for ultrafast switching between distinct antiferromagnetic orders, while holding promise to realize unprecedentedly small and fast spin devices, remains largely unexplored. Herein, we show that rectifying structure with light can serve as a powerful tool to achieve non-thermal antiferromagnetic order switching in a monolayer antiferromagnet MnPSe. By resolving the spin-phonon coupling strength, we identify a highly selective coupling of the magnetic order with a Raman-active E phonon. After resonantly pumping two degenerate infrared-active E modes, we obtain a new metastable out-of-equilibrium state holding shifted structure along E mode. Such lattice distortion offers a sustained nonthermal driving field to trigger an unreported phase switch from N'eel-type to zigzag-type antiferromagnetic order within the coherent phonon lifetime. By varying the pumping polarization and intensity, we provide a parameter regime for realistic light-driven magnetic phase transitions. Such ultrafast antiferromagnetism switch can be identified by pump-probe measurements of the order-parameter-like behavior in second harmonic generation signal or absorption spectrum.
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