Deterministic switching of perpendicular magnetization by out-of-plane anti-damping magnon torques

Spin-wave excitations of magnetic moments (or magnons) can transport spin angular momentum in insulating magnetic materials. This property distinguishes magnonic devices from traditional electronics, where power consumption results from electrons’ movement. Recently, magnon torques have been used to switch perpendicular magnetization in the presence of an external magnetic field. Here we present a material system composed of WTe₂/antiferromagnetic insulator NiO/ferromagnet CoFeB heterostructures that allows magnetic field-free switching of the perpendicular magnetization. The magnon currents, with a spin polarization canting of −8.5° relative to the sample plane, traverse the 25-nm-thick polycrystalline NiO layer while preserving their original polarization direction, subsequently exerting an out-of-plane anti-damping magnon torque on the ferromagnetic layer. Using this mechanism, we achieve a 190-fold reduction in power consumption in PtTe₂/WTe₂/NiO/CoFeB heterostructures compared to Bi₂Te₃/NiO/CoFeB control samples, which only exhibit in-plane magnon torques. Our field-free demonstration contributes to the realization of all-electric, low-power, perpendicular magnetization switching devices.