In a recent work by the Qnami co-founder Prof. Maletinsky (Quantum Sensing Group of the University of Basel), the authors study the exchange bias in CrSBr van der Waals magnets at cryogenic temperatures. They discover a strong interaction at the atomically sharp one-dimensional interface between adjacent regions, which they term “lateral exchange bias”. Surprisingly, the effect extends over of several microns, which is orders of magnitudes larger than the typically observed range in thin films.

The author further demonstrate how this new mechanism can be used to control the order parameter of 2D antiferromagnets (the Néel vector), and eventually write antiferromagnetic domain walls.

These results open up exciting future avenues, not only towards the fundamental understanding of domain walls and domain formation in atomically thin antiferromagnets, but also in the interplay between magnetism and optical and magnetic excitations in such materials. 

Read the full article: Nature Communications volume 16, 9725 (2025)