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Electrical switching of topological antiferromagnetic states in Mn3Sn thin films has been a subject of active investigation. However, dependences of switching behaviors on the film thickness, external field, and crystal orientation remain to be fully explored, which motivate the present study. In this work, (11 2 ̄ 0) -orientated Mn3Sn thin films are fabricated on sapphire substrates, in which a large anomalous Hall effect over a wide temperature range (270–400 K) can be identified. The current-induced spin–orbit torques (SOTs) are utilized to electrically manipulate the topological antiferromagnetic states in Mn3Sn/Pt bilayers. The robust SOT switching can be realized in Mn3Sn films with thicknesses up to 100 nm and with in-plane fields up to 1200 mT. Furthermore, SOT switching behaviors that are independent of the choice of crystal orientations are clearly revealed. Our results could be useful for implementing Mn3Sn films for efficient and stable antiferromagnetic spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spin valve effect driven by current-induced spin–orbit torques can help to realize electrically controllable and miniaturized two terminal spintronic devices. Here, we show that in a perpendicularly magnetized Fe 1 − x 1 Tb x 1 /Pt/ Fe 1 − x 2 Tb x 2 spin-valve multilayer, spin currents from dual surfaces of the inserted Pt layer can be used to generate spin torques that can separately switch the adjacent ferrimagnetic Fe1−xTbx layers. In a two-terminal device, we further show that the accompanied parallel and anti-parallel magnetization configurations between the two Fe1−xTbx layers can lead to the observation of the current-in-plane giant magnetoresistance (CIP-GMR). Our results demonstrate that the current-induced spin–orbit torques can be implemented into two-terminal spin-torque devices, which can be electrically read out by the CIP-GMR. The present study could be important for designing miniaturized spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]