Electric-field-enhanced second-harmonic domain contrast and nonreciprocity in a van der Waals antiferromagnet


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Date

2024

Publication Type

Journal Article

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yes

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Abstract

Imaging antiferromagnetic 180° domains with actively controlled visibility is vital for both fundamental science and sophisticated applications. While optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) is a well-known technique for distinguishing such domains in non-centrosymmetric antiferromagnets, a general material-based strategy to control domain contrast remains elusive. Using van der Waals antiferromagnet MnPS3 as a proof of concept, we demonstrate the tuning of nonreciprocity-induced domain contrast in SHG through applying an in-plane electric field that transforms the magnetic point group to its unitary subgroup. The interference among intrinsic electric-dipole, magnetic-dipole, and field-induced electric-dipole transitions, each carrying distinct characters under space-inversion (P) and time-reversal (T) operations, enables large tuning of domain contrast and nonreciprocity in a broad spectral range. This strategy, generically applicable to systems characterized by PT-symmetric magnetic groups with a polar unitary subgroup, offers a path to fast electrical modulation of nonlinear nonreciprocal photonic behaviors using antiferromagnets.

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published

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Volume

15 (1)

Pages / Article No.

7542

Publisher

Nature

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Subject

Magnetic properties and materials; Nonlinear optics

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