Phononic manipulation of antiferromagnetic domains in NiO

Abstract The interaction between the crystal lattice and spins appears to be a very efficient mechanism for non-thermal manipulation of magnetic order. A particularly intriguing question is whether vibrations can also used control or even switch domains in collinear antiferromagnets, where all other mechanisms fail. To answer this question, here we study effects induced by tunable narrow-band infrared optical pulses single crystals antiferromagnetic nickel oxide. Our measurements reveal that resonant excitation vicinity frequency longitudinal phonons leads displacement NiO, potentially revealing promising method manipulate