No Arabic abstract
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.
Antiferromagnetic spin motion at terahertz (THz) frequencies attracts growing interests for fast spintronics, however their smaller responses to external field inhibit device application. Recently the noncollinear antiferromagnet Mn$_3$Sn, a Weyl semimetal candidate, was reported to show large anomalous Hall effect (AHE) at room temperature comparable to ferromagnets. Dynamical aspect of such large responses is an important issue to be clarified for future THz data processing. Here the THz anomalous Hall conductivity in Mn$_3$Sn thin films is investigated by polarization-resolved spectroscopy. Large anomalous Hall conductivity Re $sigma_{xy} (omega) sim$ 20 $rm{Omega^{-1} cm^{-1}}$ at THz frequencies is clearly observed as polarization rotation. In contrast, Im $sigma_{xy} (omega)$ is small up to a few THz, showing that the AHE remains dissipationless over a large frequency range. A peculiar temperature dependence corresponding to the breaking/recovery of symmetry in the spin texture is also discussed. Observation of the THz AHE at room temperature demonstrates the ultrafast readout for the antiferromagnetic spintronics using Mn$_3$Sn and will also open new avenue for studying nonequilibrium dynamics in Weyl antiferromagnets.
The quantized version of anomalous Hall effect realized in magnetic topological insulators (MTIs) has great potential for the development of topological quantum physics and low-power electronic/spintronic applications. To enable dissipationless chiral edge conduction at zero magnetic field, effective exchange field arisen from the aligned magnetic dopants needs to be large enough to yield specific spin sub-band configurations. Here we report the thickness-tailored quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect in Cr-doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3 thin films by tuning the system across the two-dimensional (2D) limit. In addition to the Chern number-related metal-to-insulator QAH phase transition, we also demonstrate that the induced hybridization gap plays an indispensable role in determining the ground magnetic state of the MTIs, namely the spontaneous magnetization owning to considerable Van Vleck spin susceptibility guarantees the zero-field QAH state with unitary scaling law in thick samples, while the quantization of the Hall conductance can only be achieved with the assistance of external magnetic fields in ultra-thin films. The modulation of topology and magnetism through structural engineering may provide a useful guidance for the pursuit of QAH-based new phase diagrams and functionalities.
The Weyl antiferromagnet Mn$_3$Sn has recently attracted significant attention as it exhibits various useful functions such as large anomalous Hall effect that are normally absent in antiferromagnets. Here we report the thin film fabrication of the single phase of Mn$_3$Sn and the observation of the large anomalous Hall effect at room temperature despite its vanishingly small magnetization. Our work on the high-quality thin film growth of the Weyl antiferromagnet paves the path for developing the antiferromagnetic spintronics.
In magnetic topological phases of matter, the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect is an emergent phenomenon driven by ferromagnetic doping, magnetic proximity effects and strain engineering. The realization of QAH states with multiple dissipationless edge and surface conduction channels defined by a Chern number $mathcal{C}geq1$ was foreseen for the ferromagnetically ordered SnTe class of topological crystalline insulators (TCIs). From magnetotransport measurements on Sn$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$Te ($0.00leq{x}leq{0.08}$)(111) epitaxial thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on BaF$_{2}$ substrates, hole mediated ferromagnetism is observed in samples with $xgeq0.06$ and the highest $T_mathrm{c}sim7.5,mathrm{K}$ is inferred from an anomalous Hall behavior in Sn$_{0.92}$Mn$_{0.08}$Te. The sizable anomalous Hall angle $sim$0.3 obtained for Sn$_{0.92}$Mn$_{0.08}$Te is one of the greatest reported for magnetic topological materials. The ferromagnetic ordering with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, complemented by the inception of anomalous Hall effect in the Sn$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$Te layers for a thickness commensurate with the decay length of the top and bottom surface states, points at Sn$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$Te as a preferential platform for the realization of QAH states in ferromagnetic TCIs.
The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect is a quintessential consequence of non-zero Berry curvature in momentum-space. The QAH insulator harbors dissipation-free chiral edge states in the absence of an external magnetic field. On the other hand, the topological Hall (TH) effect, a transport hallmark of the chiral spin textures, is a consequence of real-space Berry curvature. While both the QAH and TH effects have been reported separately, their coexistence, a manifestation of entangled chiral edge states and chiral spin textures, has not been reported. Here, by inserting a TI layer between two magnetic TI layers to form a sandwich heterostructure, we realized a concurrence of the TH effect and the QAH effect through electric field gating. The TH effect is probed by bulk carriers, while the QAH effect is characterized by chiral edge states. The appearance of TH effect in the QAH insulating regime is the consequence of chiral magnetic domain walls that result from the gate-induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and occur during the magnetization reversal process in the magnetic TI sandwich samples. The coexistence of chiral edge states and chiral spin textures potentially provides a unique platform for proof-of-concept dissipationless spin-textured spintronic applications.