title: Robust ferromagnetism carried by antiferromagnetic domain walls.
abstract: Ferroic materials, such as ferromagnetic or ferroelectric materials, have been utilized as recording media for memory devices. A recent trend for downsizing, however, requires an alternative, because ferroic orders tend to become unstable for miniaturization. The domain wall nanoelectronics is a new developing direction for next-generation devices, in which atomic domain walls, rather than conventional, large domains themselves, are the active elements. Here we show that atomically thin magnetic domain walls generated in the antiferromagnetic insulator Cd2Os2O7carry unusual ferromagnetic moments perpendicular to the wall as well as electron conductivity: the ferromagnetic moments are easily polarized even by a tiny field of 1 mT at high temperature, while, once cooled down, they are surprisingly robust even in an inverse magnetic field of 7 T. Thus, the magnetic domain walls could serve as a new-type of microscopic, switchable and electrically readable magnetic medium which is potentially important for future applications in the domain wall nanoelectronics.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
authors.forename: Hishiro T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.affiliation: Material Research Center for Element Strategy, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 226-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Jun-Ichi
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Yamaura
authors.affiliation: Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
authors.forename: Zenji
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hiroi