  Damping effects form the core of many emerging concepts for high-speed
spintronic applications. Important characteristics such as device switching
times and magnetic domain-wall velocities depend critically on the damping
rate. While the implications of spin damping for relaxation processes are
intensively studied, damping effects during impulsive spin excitations are
assumed to be negligible because of the shortness of the excitation process.
Herein, we show that, unlike in ferromagnets, ultrafast damping plays a crucial
role in antiferromagnets because of their strongly elliptical spin precession.
In time-resolved measurements, we find that ultrafast damping results in an
immediate spin canting along the short precession axis. The interplay between
antiferromagnetic exchange and magnetic anisotropy amplifies this canting by
several orders of magnitude towards large-amplitude modulations of the
antiferromagnetic order parameter. This leverage effect discloses a highly
efficient route towards the ultrafast manipulation of magnetism in
antiferromagnetic spintronics.
