Magnetic memory effects in the non-centrosymmetric antiferromagnet CeCoGe₃

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials, with their lack of stray fields, weak external coupling, and ultra-fast dynamics, are promising candidates for spintronic devices [1]. Additionally, glassy systems, with their degenerate energy landscapes and history-dependent behavior, are being explored for neuromorphic computing [2]. In this context, we investigate CeCoGe₃, a non-centrosymmetric AFM below T_N = 21 K [3] which originally garnered interest as a heavy fermion candidate [4] and non-centrosymmetric superconductor with applied pressure [5].

We explore the magnetic field-temperature (H-T) phase diagram of CeCoGe₃ by thermodynamic and resistivity measurements. Below T = 12 K, a background cluster glass state forms in conjunction with the AFM order. We find the number of states in the H-T phase space can be tuned by different field-cooling (FC) protocols owing to the interaction of the cluster glass and AFM states. Information can be written by the FC protocol and read by resistivity measurements where the sequence of high and low resistance states is determined by the FC protocol. Our work demonstrates the potential to manipulate AFM materials with glassiness, opening new possibilities for next-generation spintronic and neuromorphic computing technologies.



[1] V. Baltz et al. Rev. Mod. Phys. 90, 015005 (2018).

[2] J. Jensen et al. In ALIFE 2018: The 2018 Conference of Artificial Life https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00011 (MIT Press, 2018).

[3] M. Smidman et al. Phys. Rev. B 88, 134416 (2013).

[4] V. K. Pecharsky et al. Phys. Rev. B 47, 839 (1993).

[5] R. Settai et al. J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 310, 844 (2007).