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Published on: March 24, 2019
Chirality-Selected Noncollinear Antiferromagnetic State
Shijie Xu1,2,3,4,5,6, Bingqian Dai2, Zhizhong Zhang1,5,6
1National Key Laboratory of Spintronics, Hangzhou International Innovation Institute, Beihang University, Hangzhou, 311115, China.
Abstract:
The topological noncollinear antiferromagnet (AFM) Mn3Sn exhibits a giant anomalous Hall conductance (AHC) originating from its nonvanishing Berry curvature. Conventionally, the two AHC states are regarded as time-reversal pairs coupled to the magnetic octupole moment, and their control has relied on reversing this moment by external magnetic fields or electric currents. Here, an alternative mechanism is demonstrated-the chirality-selected noncollinear antiferromagnetic state-in which the AHC polarity is defined by the vector spin chirality (VSC) of the Kagome lattice. By constructing Mn3Sn/Pt heterostructures, a Fert-Levy-type Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) is introduced that sets the lattice chirality. The induced DMI changes the VSC from counterclockwise (CCW) to clockwise (CW), resulting in a corresponding inversion of the AHC sign. This behavior is confirmed by symmetry analysis and atomistic simulations that link the polarity inversion to the competition between DMI energy and intrinsic anisotropy. These findings establish a chirality-defined route for controlling noncollinear antiferromagnetic order and highlight DMI engineering as a powerful means of tailoring Berry-curvature-driven transport in AFMs.
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