Quench switching of Mn2As

We demonstrate that epitaxial thin film antiferromagnet <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><a:mrow><a:msub><a:mi>Mn</a:mi><a:mn>2</a:mn></a:msub><a:mi>As</a:mi></a:mrow></a:math> exhibits the quench-switching effect, which was previously reported only in crystallographically similar antiferromagnetic CuMnAs thin films. Quench switching in <b:math xmlns:b="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><b:mrow><b:msub><b:mi>Mn</b:mi><b:mn>2</b:mn></b:msub><b:mi>As</b:mi></b:mrow></b:math> shows a stronger increase in resistivity, reaching hundreds of percent at 5 K, and significantly longer retention time of the metastable high-resistive state before relaxation towards the low-resistive uniform magnetic state. Qualitatively, <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><c:mrow><c:msub><c:mi>Mn</c:mi><c:mn>2</c:mn></c:msub><c:mi>As</c:mi></c:mrow></c:math> and CuMnAs show analogous parametric dependence of the magnitude and relaxation of the quench-switching signal. Quantitatively, relaxation dynamics in both materials show direct proportionality to the Néel temperature. This confirms that the quench switching has a magnetic origin in both materials. The presented results suggest that the antiferromagnets crystalizing in the <d:math xmlns:d="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><d:mrow><d:msub><d:mi>Cu</d:mi><d:mn>2</d:mn></d:msub><d:mi>Sb</d:mi></d:mrow></d:math> structure are well suited for exploring and exploiting the intriguing physics of highly nonuniform magnetic states associated with the quench switching.