Noncollinear Antiferromagnets Research Articles

Room temperature anomalous Hall effect in antiferromagnetic Mn3SnN films

Rich magnetic phase transition makes the antiperovskite manganese nitride Mn3AN family an ideal platform to explore the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) with different magnetic configurations. Here, we report the observation of AHE signals up to room temperature in antiferromagnetic (AFM) (001)-oriented Mn3SnN thin films. AHE signals, originated from the Berry curvature, can be controlled by the growth-induced biaxial strain, which leads to the modulation of noncollinear AFM configurations. A relatively large biaxial strain could enhance AHE signals ascribed to the canted AFM structure induced by the piezomagnetic effect. Our findings advance the effective utilization of the AHE in AFM spintronics.

Multiferroic BaCoX2O7 (X = P, As) Compounds with Incommensurate Structural Waves but Collinear Spin Ingredients

AbstractA new paradigm in multiferroics is observed in BaCoX2O7 (X = As, P) compounds. They consist of one dimensional (1D) antiferromagnetic chains undulated by incommensurate structural modulations with unusually large atomic displacive waves, giving a mixed 1D/2D “real” magnetic topology. The magnetic ground state is antiferromagnetic (AFM) with k = [½ 0 0], leading to a nonmodulated collinear spin lattice despite the aperiodic atomic framework, and allows developing spin‐induced multiferroicity below TN. Severe arguments against the identified mechanisms for type‐II multiferroics, i.e., by inverse Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya, exchange striction and spin‐dependent p–d hybridizations, suggest an original scenario in which the atomic waves, the collinear magnetic structure, and magnetic dipole–dipole interactions may interact as crucial ingredients of the spin‐induced ferroelectric phase. Here, the specific role of the Co2+ spin–orbit coupling in the magnetoelectric (ME) phase diagram is demonstrated by comparison with the novel Heisenberg BaFeP2O7 isomorph, similarly structurally modulated. This compound shows a noncollinear modulated AFM ordering, while no ME coupling is detected in its case. Accordingly, both BaCoX2O7 and BaFeP2O7 also undergo metamagnetic transitions above 5–6 T promoted by the modulated distribution of spin exchanges, but the spin‐flop progressive alignment of the spins in the noncollinear spin structure (Fe2+ case) turns into an abrupt flip‐like transition in the uniaxial spin structure (Co2+ case).

Bottom-up design of spin-split and reshaped electronic band structures in antiferromagnets without spin-orbit coupling: Procedure on the basis of augmented multipoles

We propose an efficient microscopic design procedure of electronic band structures having intrinsic spin and momentum dependences in spin-orbit-coupling free antiferromagnets. Our bottom-up design approach to creating desired spin-split and reshaped electronic band structures could result in further findings of practical spin-orbit-coupling free materials exhibiting a giant spin-dependent and/or nonreciprocal transport, magnetoelectric and elastic responses, and so on, as a consequence of such band structures. We establish a systematic guideline to construct symmetric/antisymmetric spin-split and antisymmetrically deformed spin-independent band structures in spin-orbit-coupling free systems by using two polar multipole degrees of freedom, i.e., electric and magnetic toroidal multipoles. The two polar multipoles constitute a complete set and describe arbitrary degrees of freedom in the hopping Hamiltonian, whose onsite and offsite degrees of freedom in a cluster are described as the so-called cluster and bond multipoles, respectively, and another degree of freedom connecting between clusters is expressed as momentum multipoles. By using these multipole descriptions, we elucidate simple microscopic conditions to realize intrinsic band deformations in magnetically ordered states: The symmetric spin splitting is realized in collinear magnets when cluster and bond multipoles contain the same symmetry of multipoles. The antisymmetric spin splitting occurs in noncollinear antiferromagnets when a bond-type magnetic toroidal multipole is present. Furthermore, the antisymmetric band deformation with spin degeneracy is realized in noncoplanar antiferromagnets. We exemplify three lattice systems formed by a triangle unit, triangular, kagome, and breathing kagome structures, to demonstrate the band deformations under the magnetic ordering. On the basis of the proposed procedure, we list up various candidate materials showing intrinsic band deformations in accordance with MAGNDATA, magnetic structures database.

Momentum-Dependent Magnon Lifetime in the Metallic Noncollinear Triangular Antiferromagnet CrB_{2}.

Noncollinear magnetic order arises for various reasons in several magnetic systems and exhibits interesting spin dynamics. Despite its ubiquitous presence, little is known of how magnons, otherwise stable quasiparticles, decay in these systems, particularly in metallic magnets. Using inelastic neutron scattering, we examine the magnetic excitation spectra in a metallic noncollinear antiferromagnet CrB_{2}, in which Cr atoms form a triangular lattice and display incommensurate magnetic order. Our data show intrinsic magnon damping and continuumlike excitations that cannot be explained by linear spin wave theory. The intrinsic magnon linewidth Γ(q,E_{q}) shows very unusual momentum dependence, which our analysis shows to originate from the combination of two-magnon decay and the Stoner continuum. By comparing the theoretical predictions with the experiments, we identify where in the momentum and energy space one of the two factors becomes more dominant. Our work constitutes a rare comprehensive study of the spin dynamics in metallic noncollinear antiferromagnets. It reveals, for the first time, definite experimental evidence of the higher-order effects in metallic antiferromagnets.

Electrical nucleation, displacement, and detection of antiferromagnetic domain walls in the chiral antiferromagnet Mn3Sn

Antiferromagnets exhibiting distinctive responses to the electric and magnetic fields have attracted attention as breakthrough materials in spintronics. The current-induced Néel-order spin-orbit torque can manipulate the antiferromagnetic domain wall (AFDW) in a collinear CuMnAs owing to a lack of local inversion symmetry. Here, we demonstrate that the electrical nucleation, displacement, and detection of AFDWs are also possible in a noncollinear antiferromagnet, i.e., chiral Mn3Sn with local inversion symmetry. The asymmetric magnetoresistance measurements reveal that AFDWs align parallel to the kagome planes in the microfabricated wire. Numerical calculation shows these AFDWs consist of stepwise sub-micron size Bloch wall-like spin textures in which the octupole moment gradually rotates over three segments of domain walls. We further observed that the application of a pulse-current drives these octupole based AFDWs along the wire. Our findings could provide a guiding principle for engineering the AFDW structure in the chiral antiferromagnetic materials.

Giant Piezospintronic Effect in a Noncollinear Antiferromagnetic Metal.

One of the main bottleneck issues for room-temperature antiferromagnetic spintronic devices is the small signal read-out owing to the limited anisotropic magnetoresistance in antiferromagnets. However, this could be overcome by either utilizing the Berry-curvature-induced anomalous Hall resistance in noncollinear antiferromagnets or establishing tunnel-junction devices based on effective manipulation of antiferromagnetic spins. In this work, the giant piezoelectric strain modulation of the spin structure and the anomalous Hall resistance in a noncollinear antiferromagnetic metal-D019 hexagonal Mn3 Ga-is demonstrated. Furthermore, tunnel-junction devices are built with a diameter of 200 nm to amplify the maximum tunneling resistance ratio to more than 10% at room-temperature, which thus implies significant potential of noncollinear antiferromagnets for large signal-output and high-density antiferromagnetic spintronic device applications.

Spin-torque switching of noncollinear antiferromagnetic antiperovskites

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics exploits the N\'eel vector as a state variable for novel electronic devices. Recent studies have demonstrated that the N\'eel vector can be switched by a spin-orbit torque. These studies however are largely limited to collinear antiferromagnets of proper magnetic space-group symmetry. There is, however, a large group of high-temperature noncollinear antiferromagnets, which are suitable for such switching. Here, we predict that spin torque can be efficiently used to switch a noncollinear AFM order in antiperovskite materials. Based on first-principles calculations and atomistic spin-dynamics modeling, we show that in antiperovskites $A\mathrm{NM}{\mathrm{n}}_{3}$ ($A=\mathrm{Ga}$, Ni, etc.) with the AFM ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{4\mathrm{g}}$ ground state, the AFM order can be switched on the picosecond timescale using a spin torque generated by a spin current. The threshold switching current density can be tuned by the $A\mathrm{NM}{\mathrm{n}}_{3}$ stoichiometry engineering, changing the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{4\mathrm{g}}$ AFM phase supports a sizable anomalous Hall effect, which can be used to detect the spin-torque switching of the AFM order. The predicted ultrafast switching dynamics and the efficient detection of the AFM order state make noncollinear magnetic antiperovskites a promising material platform for AFM spintronics.

Anomalous Hall Effect, Robust Negative Magnetoresistance, and Memory Devices Based on a Noncollinear Antiferromagnetic Metal.

We report the successful fabrication of noncollinear antiferromagnetic D019 Mn3Ge thin films on insulating oxide substrates. The anomalous Hall effect and the large parallel negative magnetoresistance that is robust up to 53 T are observed in the thin films, which may provide evidence for the recent theoretical prediction of the existence of Weyl fermions in antiferromagnetic Mn3Ge. More importantly, we integrate the Mn3Ge thin films onto ferroelectric PMN-PT substrates and manipulate the longitudinal resistance reversibly by electric fields at room temperature, demonstrating the anisotropic magnetoresistance effect in noncollinear antiferromagnets, which thus illustrates the potential of antiferromagnetic Mn3Ge for information storage applications.

Manipulating anomalous Hall antiferromagnets with magnetic fields

Here, the authors show that in noncollinear antiferromagnets that have the anomalous Hall effect the net orbital magnetization can dominate the spin magnetization when the spin-orbit coupling is weak. This trend is verified by first-principles calculations on Mn${}_{3}X$ ($X$=Ir, Pt, Rh, Sn, Ge) using modern theory of orbital magnetization. They then discuss how the noncollinear magnetic order parameter is rotated coherently by external magnetic fields, which couple to the dominant orbital magnetization in the framework of relativistic spin density functional theory, and they provide a toy model example based on cubic Mn${}_{3}X$.

Epitaxial growth and orientation-dependent anomalous Hall effect of noncollinear antiferromagnetic Mn3Ni0.35Cu0.65N films

We report the growth of noncollinear antiferromagnetic (AFM) Mn3Ni0.35Cu0.65N films and the orientation-dependent anomalous Hall effect (AHE) of (001) and (111) films due to the nonzero Berry curvature. We found that post-annealing at 500 °C can significantly improve the AHE signals, though using the appropriate post-annealing conditions is important. The AHE and magnetization loops show sharp flipping at the coercive field in (111) films, while (001) films are hard to saturate by a magnetic field. The anomalous Hall conductivity of (111) films is an order of magnitude larger than that of (001) films. The present results provide not only a better understanding of the AHE in Mn3XN systems but also further opportunities to study the unique phenomena related to noncollinear AFM.

Anomalous and topological Hall effects in epitaxial thin films of the noncollinear antiferromagnet Mn3Sn

Noncollinear antiferromagnets with a D0$_{19}$ (space group = 194, P6$_{3}$/mmc) hexagonal structure have garnered much attention for their potential applications in topological spintronics. Here, we report the deposition of continuous epitaxial thin films of such a material, Mn$_{3}$Sn, and characterize their crystal structure using a combination of x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Growth of Mn$_{3}$Sn films with both (0001) c-axis orientation and (40$\bar{4}$3) texture is achieved. In the latter case, the thin films exhibit a small uncompensated Mn moment in the basal plane, quantified via magnetometry and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism experiments. This cannot account for the large anomalous Hall effect simultaneously observed in these films, even at room temperature, with magnitude $\sigma_{\mathrm{xy}}$ ($\mu_{0}H$ = 0 T) = 21 $\mathrm{\Omega}^{-1}\mathrm{cm}^{-1}$ and coercive field $\mu_{0}H_{\mathrm{C}}$ = 1.3 T. We attribute the origin of this anomalous Hall effect to momentum-space Berry curvature arising from the symmetry-breaking inverse triangular spin structure of Mn$_{3}$Sn. Upon cooling through the transition to a glassy ferromagnetic state at around 50 K, a peak in the Hall resistivity close to the coercive field indicates the onset of a topological Hall effect contribution, due to the emergence of a scalar spin chirality generating a real-space Berry phase. We demonstrate that the polarity of this topological Hall effect, and hence the chiral-nature of the noncoplanar magnetic structure driving it, can be controlled using different field cooling conditions.

Magnetic Damping Modulation in IrMn_{3}/Ni_{80}Fe_{20} via the Magnetic Spin Hall Effect.

Noncollinear antiferromagnets can have additional spin Hall effects due to the net chirality of their magnetic spin structure, which provides for more complex spin-transport phenomena compared to ordinary nonmagnetic materials. Here we investigated how ferromagnetic resonance of permalloy (Ni_{80}Fe_{20}) is modulated by spin Hall effects in adjacent epitaxial IrMn_{3} films. We observe a large dc modulation of the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth for currents applied along the [001] IrMn_{3} direction. This very strong angular dependence of spin-orbit torques from dc currents through the bilayers can be explained by the magnetic spin Hall effect where IrMn_{3} provides novel pathways for modulating magnetization dynamics electrically.

Exchange bias and anomalous Hall effect in a wide temperature range of 5–300 K in non-collinear antiferromagnetic Mn–Cr–Sn alloy

In this paper, noncollinear antiferromagnets Mn3.1Sn0.9 and Mn2.5Cr0.6Sn0.9 with an Ni3Sn-type hexagonal structure has been synthesized. An exchange bias (EB) from 5 K to room temperature has been observed in Mn2.5Cr0.6Sn0.9 with a maximum EB field of 3166 Oe at 5 K, which decreases gradually to 60 Oe at 300 K. It is proposed that the EB is ascribed to the exchange anisotropy between the ferromagnetic component and the antiferromagnetic host due to the magnetic inhomogeneity of the materials. Large anomalous Hall effect ranging from 3.5 to 1 µΩ · cm persists from 5 K to 300 K, which is attributed to the non-vanishing Berry phase arising from the non-collinear spin structure. Both the exchange bias and anomalous Hall effect in a wide temperature range of 5–300 K suggest that the Mn–Cr–Sn alloy has a promising application prospect in antiferromagnetic based spintronics devices.

Magnonic analog of the Edelstein effect in antiferromagnetic insulators

We investigate the nonequilibrium spin polarization due to a temperature gradient in antiferromagnetic insulators, which is the magnonic analogue of the inverse spin-galvanic effect of electrons. We derive a linear response theory of a temperature-gradient-induced spin polarization for collinear and noncollinear antiferromagnets, which comprises both extrinsic and intrinsic contributions. We apply our theory to several noncentrosymmetric antiferromagnetic insulators, i.e., to a one-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin chain, a single layer of kagome noncollinear antiferromagnet, e.g., $\text{KFe}_3(\text{OH})_6(\text{SO}_4)_2$, and a noncollinear breathing pyrochlore antiferromagnet, e.g., LiGaCr$_4$O$_8$. The shapes of our numerically evaluated response tensors agree with those implied by the magnetic symmetry. Assuming a realistic temperature gradient of $10 \text{K}/\text{mm}$, we find two-dimensional spin densities of up to $\sim 10^6\hbar/\text{cm}^2$ and three-dimensional bulk spin densities of up to $\sim 10^{14}\hbar/\text{cm}^3$, encouraging an experimental detection.

Intrinsic spin Nernst effect of magnons in a noncollinear antiferromagnet

We investigate the intrinsic magnon spin current in a noncollinear antiferromagnetic insulator. We introduce a definition of the magnon spin current in a noncollinear antiferromagnet and find that it is in general non-conserved, but for certain symmetries and spin polarizations the averaged effect of non-conserving terms can vanish. We formulate a general linear response theory for magnons in noncollinear antiferromagnets subject to a temperature gradient and analyze the effect of symmetries on the response tensor. We apply this theory to single-layer potassium iron jarosite KFe$_3$(OH)$_6$(SO$_4$)$_2$ and predict a measurable spin current response.

Destruction of long-range order in noncollinear two-dimensional antiferromagnets by random-bond disorder

We consider frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnets, whose clean-limit ground state is characterized by non-collinear long-range order with non-zero vector chirality, and study the effects of quenched bond disorder, i.e., random exchange couplings. A single bond defect is known to induce a dipolar texture in the spin background independent of microscopic details. Using general analytical arguments as well as large-scale simulations for the classical triangular-lattice Heisenberg model, we show that any finite concentration of such defects destroys long-range order for spatial dimension $d\leq 2$, in favor of a glassy state whose correlation length in $d=2$ is exponentially large for small randomness. Our results are relevant for a wide range of layered frustrated magnets.

Large anomalous Hall effect in L12-ordered antiferromagnetic Mn3Ir thin films

Antiferromagnets having negligible net magnetization but a topologically nontrivial spin structure are a good testbed for investigating the intrinsic anomalous Hall effect (AHE). In this Letter, we explore L12-ordered Mn3Ir thin films, which are one of the noncollinear antiferromagnets predicted to exhibit the intrinsic AHE due to their topologically nontrivial spin structure. The anomalous Hall conductivity as large as σAHE = 40 Ω−1 cm−1 was observed at R.T. This value can be translated to the anomalous Hall conductivity per net magnetization M as |σAHE/M| = 0.6 V−1, which is much larger compared to those for general ferromagnetic materials. We also show that σAHE depends on the crystallinity of Mn3Ir as well as the chemical order parameter S characterizing a content of the L12 phase. Our results experimentally verify that L12-ordered Mn3Ir thin films exhibit the topologically originated AHE.

Magneto-optic and transverse-transport properties of noncollinear antiferromagnets

Previous studies on the anomalous Hall effect in coplanar non-collinear antiferromagnets are revisited and extended to magneto-optic properties, namely magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) and X-ray magnetic dichroism (XMCD). Starting from group-theoretical considerations the shape of the frequency-dependent conductivity tensor for various actual and hypothetical spin configurations in cubic and hexagonal Mn$_3X$ compounds is determined. Calculated MOKE and X-ray dichroism spectra are used to confirm these findings and to give estimates of the size of the effects. For Mn$_3$IrPt and Mn$_3$PtRh alloys the concentration dependence of the anomalous and spin Hall conductivity is studied in addition.

Magnetic anisotropy of the noncollinear antiferromagnet IrMn3

The magnetic anisotropy of antiferromagnets plays a crucial role in stabilising the magnetisation of many spintronic devices. In non-collinear antiferromagnets such as IrMn the symmetry and temperature dependence of the effective anisotropy are poorly understood. Theoretical and experimental calculations of the effective anisotropy constant for IrMn differ by two orders of magnitude, while the symmetry has been calculated as uniaxial in contradiction to the assumed relationship between crystallographic symmetry and temperature dependence of the anisotropy from the Callen-Callen law. In this letter we determine the effective anisotropy energy surface of \Lonetwo - \IrMn using an atomistic spin model and constrained Monte Carlo simulations. We find that meta-stable spin structures lower the overall energy barrier to a tenth of that estimated from simple geometrical considerations, significantly reducing the discrepancy between experiment and theory. The temperature scaling of the anisotropy energy barrier shows an exponent of \factor, close to a uniaxial exponent of 3. Our results demonstrate the importance of non-collinear spin states on the thermal stability of antiferromagnets with consequences for the practical application of antiferromagnets in devices operating at elevated temperatures.

Crystal orientation and anomalous Hall effect of sputter-deposited non-collinear antiferromagnetic Mn3Sn thin films

We study a growth technique of non-collinear antiferromagnetic Mn3Sn thin films deposited by sputtering with various substrates and underlayers. The relation between their crystal structure and magnetic/transport properties is also investigated. We achieve the formation of epitaxial films with both C-plane and M-plane orientations, whose Kagome lattices are parallel and perpendicular to the plane, respectively. Transverse resistivity originating from the anomalous Hall effect shows different trends reflecting the Kagome lattice orientation of each stack. The established technique and findings offer a platform to study functional devices utilizing the unconventional physical properties of non-collinear antiferromagnets with controlled Kagome lattice orientation.