Efficient Electrical Spin Splitter Based on Nonrelativistic Collinear Antiferromagnetism

Spin-current generation by electrical means is among the core phenomena driving the field of spintronics. Using ab initio calculations we show that a room-temperature metallic collinear antiferromagnet RuO₂ allows for highly efficient spin-current generation, arising from anisotropically spin-split bands with conserved up and down spins along the Néel vector axis. The zero net moment antiferromagnet acts as an electrical spin splitter with a 34° propagation angle between spin-up and spin-down currents. The corresponding spin conductivity is a factor of 3 larger than the record value from a survey of 20 000 nonmagnetic spin-Hall materials. We propose a versatile spin-splitter-torque concept circumventing limitations of spin-transfer and spin-orbit torques in present magnetic memory devices.