Evidence of Topological Hall Effect in Pt/Antiferromagnetic-Insulator Bilayers

Abstract

Topological spin textures, such as skyrmions, have attracted intense interest in recent years. Magnetic skyrmions have been studied almost exclusively in bulk ferromagnets (FM) or FM multilayers. Antiferromagnets (AF) have also been predicted to harbor topological spin textures such as AF skyrmions. Topological Hall effect has been a primary indicator of spin textures in magnetic materials. We observe unambiguous evidence of topological Hall effect in Pt/Cr2O3 bilayers grown on Al2O3(0001) and Al2O3(11-20), where Cr2O3 epitaxial film is an antiferromagnetic insulator[1]. Although Cr2O3 is insulating, the topological magnetic textures can be detected through a novel phenomenon: “spin-Hall topological Hall effect” (SH-THE), similar to what recently observed topological Hall effect in Pt/Tm3Fe5O12 bilayers[2]. The Pt/Cr2O3 bilayers exhibit clear topological Hall resistivity for Cr2O3 thicknesses below 6 nm near and above room temperature, which is above the Néel temperature of Cr2O3, revealing the key role of thermal fluctuations in the formation of spin textures[3]. The similarity of topological Hall signals in (0001) and (11-20)-oriented Cr2O3 films indicates that the emergence of spin textures is insensitive to crystalline orientation. This first observational evidence of topological Hall effect in HM/AFI bilayers significantly expands our materials base to include the large family of AF insulators for the exploration of AF-based skyrmion technology.