Large Anomalous Hall Effect in a Half-Heusler Antiferromagnet

Published

December 1, 2016

Author(s)

T. Suzuki, Robin Michael Daub Chisnell, A. Devarakonda, Y.-T. Liu, W. Feng, D. Xiao, Jeffrey W. Lynn, J. G. Checkelsky

Abstract

The quantum mechanical (Berry) phase of the electronic wavefunction has profound effects on spin-dependent behavior in solids [2,2]. In the context of electronic transport, the Berry phase plays a critical role as a fundamental origin of the anomalous [3,4] and spin Hall effects [5,6], including their quantized limits [7,9]. Theoretical and experimental studies have seen significant progress in understanding these effects in ferromagnetic systems, where the separation of Berry phase and extrinsic contributions has been established [10]. Despite their apparent similarities, less is known about Berry phase effects in antiferromagnetic systems. Here we present a study of single crystals of face-centered-cubit (FCC) antiferromagnet GdPtBi that shows an anomalous Hall angle θ_AH>0.1 comparable to the largest anomalous Hall angles in bulk ferromagnets [11] and significantly larger than any previous report in antiferromagnetic systems [10]. Comparing the field-dependent spin structure deduced from neutron scattering with the related cases of strongly frustrated pyrochlores [12,13] and non-centrosymmetric B20 systems with Skyrmionic textures [14,15] where spin-chirality effects are important, suggests that the mechanism in the present system belongs to a more general intrinsic class originating from the combination of spin-orbit coupling and magnetic texture in non-collinear antiferromagnetic systems [16]. Furthermore, the half Heusler system to which GdPtBi belongs has been predicted to host topologically non-trivial states if distorted [17,18] or through realizing an emergent symmetry upon antiferromagnetic order [19]; the magnetic textures indicated by the measurements here imply pathways toward both of these new topological platforms.

Citation

Nature Physics

Volume

12

Issue

12

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Hall Effect, Conductivity, Berry Phase, Antiferromagnet, Neutron Diffraction, Field Dependence, Topological Insulator

Citation

Suzuki, T. , Chisnell, R. , Devarakonda, A. , Liu, Y. , Feng, W. , Xiao, D. , Lynn, J. and Checkelsky, J. (2016), Large Anomalous Hall Effect in a Half-Heusler Antiferromagnet, Nature Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=920288 (Accessed October 12, 2024)