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- ItemChirality flip of Weyl nodes and its manifestation in strained MoTe2(College Park, MD : APS, 2021) Könye, Viktor; Bouhon, Adrien; Fulga, Ion Cosma; Slager, Robert-Jan; van den Brink, Jeroen; Facio, Jorge I.Due to their topological charge, or chirality, the Weyl cones present in topological semimetals are considered robust against arbitrary perturbations. One well-understood exception to this robustness is the pairwise creation or annihilation of Weyl cones, which involves the overlap of two oppositely charged nodes in energy and momentum. Here we show that their topological charge can in fact change sign, in a process that involves the merging of not two, but three Weyl nodes. This is facilitated by the presence of rotation and time-reversal symmetries, which constrain the relative positions of Weyl cones in momentum space. We analyze the chirality flip process, showing that transport properties distinguish it from the conventional, double Weyl merging. Moreover, we predict that the chirality flip occurs in MoTe$_2$, where experimentally accessible strain leads to the merging of three Weyl cones close to the Fermi level. Our work sets the stage to further investigate and observe such chirality flipping processes in different topological materials.
- ItemMultistate current-induced magnetization switching in Au/Fe/MgO(001) epitaxial heterostructures(College Park, MD : APS, 2021) Gospodarič, P.; Młyńczak, E.; Soldatov, I.; Kákay, A.; Bürgler, D.E.; Plucinski, L.; Schäfer, R.; Fassbender, J.; Schneider, C.M.Magnetization switching using in-plane charge current recently has been widely investigated in heavy metal/ferromagnet bilayers with the switching mechanism usually attributed to the action of the spin-orbit coupling. Here we study in-plane current induced magnetization switching in model epitaxial bilayers that consist of Au(001) and Fe(001) grown on MgO(001). We use the planar Hall effect combined with magnetooptical Kerr effect (MOKE) microscopy to investigate magnetic properties of the bilayers and current-induced switching. We show that a current density beyond 1.4×107 A/cm can be employed for reproducible electrical switching of the magnetization between multiple stable states that correspond to different arrangements of magnetic domains with magnetization direction along one of the in-plane easy magnetization axes of the Fe(001) film. Lower current densities result in stable intermediate transversal resistances which are interpreted based on MOKE-microscopy investigations as resulting from the current-induced magnetic domain structure that is formed in the area of the Hall cross. We find that the physical mechanism of the current-induced magnetization switching of the Au/Fe/MgO(001) system at room temperature can be fully explained by the Oersted field, which is generated by the charge current flowing mostly through the Au layer.
- ItemTopological Hall effect in thin films of Mn1.5PtSn(College Park, MD : APS, 2019) Swekis, Peter; Markou, Anastasios; Kriegner, Dominik; Gayles, Jacob; Schlitz, Richard; Schnelle, Walter; Goennenwein, Sebastian T.B.; Felser, ClaudiaSpin chirality in metallic materials with noncoplanar magnetic order can give rise to a Berry phase induced topological Hall effect. Here, we report the observation of a large topological Hall effect in high-quality films of Mn1.5PtSn that were grown by means of magnetron sputtering on MgO(001). The topological Hall resistivity is present up to μ0H≈4T below the spin reorientation transition temperature, Ts=185 K. We find that the maximum topological Hall resistivity is of comparable magnitude as the anomalous Hall resistivity. Owing to the size, the topological Hall effect is directly evident prior to the customarily performed subtraction of magnetometry data. Further, we underline the robustness of the topological Hall effect in Mn2-xPtSn by extracting the effect for multiple stoichiometries (x=0.5,0.25,0.1) and film thicknesses (t=104,52,35 nm) with maximum topological Hall resistivities between 0.76 and 1.55μΩcm at 150 K. © 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
- ItemInhomogeneous ferromagnetism mimics signatures of the topological Hall effect in SrRuO3 films(College Park, MD : APS, 2020) Kim, Gideok; Son, K.; Suyolcu, Y.E.; Miao, L.; Schreiber, N.J.; Nair, H.P.; Putzky, D.; Minola, M.; Christiani, G.; van Aken, P.A.; Shen, K.M.; Schlom, D.G.; Logvenov, G.; Keimer, B.Topological transport phenomena in magnetic materials are a major topic of current condensed matter research. One of the most widely studied phenomena is the topological Hall effect (THE), which is generated via spin-orbit interactions between conduction electrons and topological spin textures such as skyrmions. We report a comprehensive set of Hall effect and magnetization measurements on epitaxial films of the prototypical ferromagnetic metal SrRuO3 the magnetic and transport properties of which were systematically modulated by varying the concentration of Ru vacancies. We observe Hall effect anomalies that closely resemble signatures of the THE, but a quantitative analysis demonstrates that they result from inhomogeneities in the ferromagnetic magnetization caused by a nonrandom distribution of Ru vacancies. As such inhomogeneities are difficult to avoid and are rarely characterized independently, our results call into question the identification of topological spin textures in numerous prior transport studies of quantum materials, heterostructures, and devices. Firm conclusions regarding the presence of such textures must meet stringent conditions such as probes that couple directly to the noncollinear magnetization on the atomic scale.
- ItemExploring the intrinsic limit of the charge-carrier-induced increase of the Curie temperature of Lu- and La-doped EuO thin films(College Park, MD : APS, 2020) Held, R.; Mairoser, T.; Melville, A.; Mundy, J.A.; Holtz, M.E.; Hodash, D.; Wang, Z.; Heron, J.T.; Dacek, S.T.; Holländer, B.; Muller, D.A.; Schlom, D.G.Raising the Curie temperature TC of the highly spin-polarized semiconductor EuO by doping it with rare-earth elements is a strategy to make EuO more technologically relevant to spintronics. The increase of TC with free carrier density n and the surprisingly low dopant activation p, found in Gd-doped EuO thin films [Mairoser et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 257206 (2010)], raised the important question of whether TC could be considerably enhanced by increasing p. Using a low-temperature growth method for depositing high-quality Lu-doped EuO films we attain high dopant activation (p) values of up to 67%, effectively more than doubling p as compared to adsorption-controlled growth of Lu- and Gd-doped EuO. Relating n, p, and lattice compression of La- and Lu-doped EuO films grown at different temperatures to the TC of these samples allows us to identify several different mechanisms influencing TC and causing an experimental maximum in TC. In addition, scanning transmission electron microscopy in combination with electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements on La-doped EuO indicate that extensive dopant clustering is one, but not the sole reason for dopant deactivation in rare-earth doped EuO films.
- ItemEvidence for a percolative Mott insulator-metal transition in doped Sr2IrO4(College Park, MD : APS, 2021) Sun, Zhixiang; Guevara, Jose M.; Sykora, Steffen; Pärschke, Ekaterina M.; Manna, Kaustuv; Maljuk, Andrey; Wurmehl, Sabine; van den Brink, Jeroen; Büchner, Bernd; Hess, ChristianDespite many efforts to rationalize the strongly correlated electronic ground states in doped Mott insulators, the nature of the doping-induced insulator-to-metal transition is still a subject under intensive investigation. Here, we probe the nanoscale electronic structure of the Mott insulator Sr2IrO4−δ with low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and find an enhanced local density of states (LDOS) inside the Mott gap at the location of individual defects which we interpret as defects at apical oxygen sites. A chiral behavior in the topography for those defects has been observed. We also visualize the local enhanced conductance arising from the overlapping of defect states which induces finite LDOS inside of the Mott gap. By combining these findings with the typical spatial extension of isolated defects of about 2 nm, our results indicate that the insulator-to-metal transition in Sr2IrO4−δ could be percolative in nature.
- ItemUnusual spin pseudogap behavior in the spin web lattice Cu3TeO6 probed by 125Te nuclear magnetic resonance(College Park, MD : APS, 2021) Baek, Seung-Ho; Yeo, Hyeon Woo; Park, Jena; Choi, Kwang-Yong; Büchner, BerndWe present a 125Te nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study in the three-dimensional spin web lattice Cu3TeO6 which harbors topological magnons. The 125Te NMR spectra and the Knight-shift K as a function of temperature show a drastic change at TS∼40K much lower than the Néel ordering temperature TN∼61K, providing evidence for the first-order structural phase transition within the magnetically ordered state. Most remarkably, the temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation rate T−11 unravels spin-gap-like magnetic excitations, which sharply sets in at T∗∼75K, the temperature well above TN. The spin-gap behavior may be understood by weakly dispersive optical magnon branches of high-energy spin excitations originating from the unique corner-sharing Cu hexagon spin-1/2 network with low coordination number.
- ItemFinite temperature fluctuation-induced order and responses in magnetic topological insulators(College Park, MD : APS, 2021) Scholten, Marius; Facio, Jorge I.; Ray, Rajyavardhan; Eremin, Ilya M.; van den Brink, Jeroen; Nogueira, Flavio S.We derive an effective field theory model for magnetic topological insulators and predict that a magnetic electronic gap persists on the surface for temperatures above the ordering temperature of the bulk. Our analysis also applies to interfaces of heterostructures consisting of a ferromagnetic and a topological insulator. In order to make quantitative predictions for MnBi2Te4 and for EuS-Bi2Se3 heterostructures, we combine the effective field theory method with density functional theory and Monte Carlo simulations. For MnBi2Te4 we predict an upwards Néel temperature shift at the surface up to 15%, while the EuS-Bi2Se3 interface exhibits a smaller relative shift. The effective theory also predicts induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions and a topological magnetoelectric effect, both of which feature a finite temperature and chemical potential dependence.
- ItemAnomalous levitation and annihilation in Floquet topological insulators(College Park, MD : APS, 2020) Liu, Hui; Fulga, Ion Cosma; Asbóth, János K.Anderson localization in two-dimensional topological insulators takes place via the so-called levitation and pair annihilation process. As disorder is increased, extended bulk states carrying opposite topological invariants move towards each other in energy, reducing the size of the topological gap, eventually meeting and localizing. This results in a topologically trivial Anderson insulator. Here, we introduce the anomalous levitation and pair annihilation, a process unique to periodically driven, or Floquet, systems. Due to the periodicity of the quasienergy spectrum, we find it is possible for the topological gap to increase as a function of disorder strength. Thus, after all bulk states have localized, the system remains topologically nontrivial, forming an anomalous Floquet-Anderson insulator (AFAI) phase. We show a concrete example for this process, adding disorder via on-site potential “kicks” to a Chern insulator model. By changing the period between kicks, we can tune which type of (conventional or anomalous) levitation and annihilation occurs in the system. We expect our results to be applicable to generic Floquet topological systems and to provide an accessible way to realize AFAIs experimentally, without the need for multistep driving schemes.