Giant magnetoresistance and topological Hall effect in the EuGa4 antiferromagnet

Abstract

We report on systematic temperature- and magnetic field-dependent studies of the EuGa4 binary compound, which crystallizes in a centrosymmetric tetragonal BaAl4-type structure with space group I4/mmm. The electronic properties of EuGa4 single crystals, with an antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at T N ∼ 16.4 K, were characterized via electrical resistivity and magnetization measurements. A giant nonsaturating magnetoresistance was observed at low temperatures, reaching % at 2 K in a magnetic field of 9 T. In the AFM state, EuGa4 undergoes a series of metamagnetic transitions in an applied magnetic field, clearly manifested in its field-dependent electrical resistivity. Below T N, in the ∼4–7 T field range, we observe also a clear hump-like anomaly in the Hall resistivity which is part of the anomalous Hall resistivity. We attribute such a hump-like feature to the topological Hall effect, usually occurring in noncentrosymmetric materials known to host topological spin textures (as e.g., magnetic skyrmions). Therefore, the family of materials with a tetragonal BaAl4-type structure, to which EuGa4 and EuAl4 belong, seems to comprise suitable candidates on which one can study the interplay among correlated-electron phenomena (such as charge-density wave or exotic magnetism) with topological spin textures and topologically nontrivial bands.