Abstract
Electrical control of antiferromagnetic moment is a key technology of antiferromagnet-based spintronics, which promises favourable device characteristics of ultrafast operation and high-density integration compared to conventional ferromagnet-based devices. To date, the manipulation of antiferromagnetic moments has been demonstrated in epitaxial antiferromagnets with broken inversion symmetry or antiferromagnets interfaced with a heavy metal, in which spin-orbit torque (SOT) drives the antiferromagnetic domain wall. Here, we report electrical manipulation of the antiferromagnetic easy axis in IrMn/NiFe bilayers without a heavy metal. We show that the direction of the antiferromagnetic easy axis and associated exchange bias is gradually modulated between up to ±22 degrees by in-plane current, which is independent of the NiFe thickness, however. This suggests that spin currents arising in the IrMn layer exert SOTs on uncompensated antiferromagnetic moments at the interface and then rotate the antiferromagnetic moments coherently. Furthermore, the memristive features are preserved in sub-micron devices, facilitating nanoscale multi-level antiferromagnetic spintronic devices.