Spintronics is based on the electrical manipulation of magnetic order through current-induced spin torques. In collinear antiferromagnets with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, binary states can be directly encoded in their opposite Néel order. The negligible stray fields and terahertz spin dynamics of these systems mean that they could potentially be used to develop ultrafast memory devices with high integration density. Here we report electrical switching of the perpendicular Néel order in a collinear antiferromagnet. We show that the Néel order in a prototypical collinear antiferromagnetic insulator—chromium oxide (Cr₂O₃)—can be switched by the spin–orbit torque with a low current density (5.8 × 10⁶ A cm⁻²) and read out by the anomalous Hall effect. We also show that the magnetization of a Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ film exchange-coupled to the Cr₂O₃ layer can be electrically switched, confirming the Néel order switching of the Cr₂O₃ layer.

自旋电子学基于通过电流感应自旋扭矩对磁序进行电操纵。在具有垂直磁各向异性的共线反铁磁体中，二元态可以直接以其相反的尼尔阶进行编码。这些系统的杂散场和太赫兹自旋动力学可以忽略不计，这意味着它们有可能用于开发具有高集成密度的超快存储设备。在这里，我们报告了共线反铁磁体中垂直尼尔级的电切换。我们证明，原型共线反铁磁绝缘体——氧化铬（Cr ₂ O ₃ ）——中的尼尔阶可以通过低电流密度（5.8 × 10 ⁶ A cm ^-2 ）的自旋轨道扭矩进行切换，并通过以下方式读出：反常霍尔效应。我们还表明，与Cr ₂ O ₃层交换耦合的Y ₃ Fe ₅ O ₁₂薄膜的磁化强度可以进行电切换，证实了Cr ₂ O ₃层的奈尔级切换。