Chiral Properties of the Zero-Field Spiral State and Field-Induced Magnetic Phases of the Itinerant Kagome Metal YMn6Sn6

Published

March 8, 2021

Author(s)

Rebecca Dally, Jeffrey W. Lynn, Nirmal J. Ghimire, Dina Michel, Peter Siegfried, Igor I. Mazin

Abstract

Applying a magnetic field in the hexagonal plane of YMn₆Sn₆ leads to a complex magnetic phase diagram of commensurate and incommensurate phases, one of which coexists with the topological Hall effect (THE) generated by a unique fluctuation-driven mechanism. Using unpolarized neutron diffraction, we report on the solved magnetic structure for two previously identified, but unknown, commensurate phases. These include a low-temperature, high-field fan- like phase and a room-temperature, low-field canted antiferromagnetic phase. An intermediate incommensurate phase between the fan-like and forced ferromagnetic phases is also identified as the last known phase of the in-plane field-temperature diagram. Additional characterization using synchrotron powder diffraction reveals extremely high-quality, single-phase crystals, which confirms that the presence of two incommensurate magnetic structures throughout much of the phase diagram is an intrinsic property of the system. Interestingly, polarized neutron diffraction shows that the centrosymmetric system hosts preferential chirality in the zero- field double-spiral phase, which, along with the THE, is a topologically non-trivial characteristic.

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

103

Issue

9

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

magnetism, polarized neutron diffraction, neutron diffraction, topological, synchrotron diffraction

Citation

Dally, R. , Lynn, J. , Ghimire, N. , Michel, D. , Siegfried, P. and Mazin, I. (2021), Chiral Properties of the Zero-Field Spiral State and Field-Induced Magnetic Phases of the Itinerant Kagome Metal YMn₆Sn₆, Physical Review B (Accessed October 27, 2025)