Crystal time-reversal symmetry breaking and spontaneous Hall effect in collinear antiferromagnets

Šmejkal, Libor; González-Hernández, Rafael; Jungwirth, T.; Sinova, J.

Abstract

Electrons, commonly moving along the applied electric field, acquire in certain magnets a dissipationless transverse velocity. This spontaneous Hall effect, found more than a century ago, has been understood in terms of the time-reversal symmetry breaking by the internal spin structure of a ferromagnetic, noncolinear antiferromagnetic, or skyrmionic form. Here, we identify previously overlooked robust Hall effect mechanism arising from collinear antiferromagnetism combined with nonmagnetic atoms at noncentrosymmetric positions. We predict a large magnitude of this crystal Hall effect in a room temperature collinear antiferromagnet RuO2 and catalog, based on symmetry rules, extensive families of material candidates. We show that the crystal Hall effect is accompanied by the possibility to control its sign by the crystal chirality. We illustrate that accounting for the full magnetization density distribution instead of the simplified spin structure sheds new light on symmetry breaking phenomena in magnets and opens an alternative avenue toward low-dissipation nanoelectronics.

Citation

Šmejkal, L., González-Hernández, R., Jungwirth, T., & Sinova, J. (2020). Crystal time-reversal symmetry breaking and spontaneous Hall effect in collinear antiferromagnets. Science Advances, 6(23), Article eaaz8809. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz8809

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jun 5, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 24, 2024
• Journal: Science Advances
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 23
• Article Number: eaaz8809
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz8809
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4597639
• Publisher URL: https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.aaz8809