Magnetic topological phases of quantum matter are an emerging frontier in physics and material science [1][2][3][4]. Along these lines, several kagome magnets [5][6][7][8][9] have appeared as the most promising platforms. However, the magnetic nature of these materials in the presence of topological state remains an unsolved issue [5][6][7][8][9]. Here, we explore magnetic correlations in the kagome magnet Co 3 Sn 2 S 2 . Using muon spin-rotation, we present evidence for competing magnetic orders in the kagome lattice of this compound. Our results show that while the sample exhibits an outof-plane ferromagnetic ground state, an in-plane antiferromagnetic state appears at temperatures above 90 K, eventually attaining a volume fraction of 80% around 170 K, before reaching a nonmagnetic state. Strikingly, the reduction of the anomalous Hall conductivity above 90 K linearly follows the disappearance of the volume fraction of the ferromagnetic state. We further show that the competition of these magnetic phases is tunable through applying either an external magnetic field or hydrostatic pressure. Our results taken together suggest the thermal and quantum tuning of Berry curvature field via external tuning of magnetic order. Our study shows that Co 3 Sn 2 S 2 is a rare example where the magnetic competition drives the thermodynamic evolution * Electronic address: zurab.guguchia@psi.ch of the Berry curvature field, thus tuning its topological state.The kagome lattice is a two-dimensional pattern of corner-sharing triangles. With this unusual symmetry and the associated geometrical frustration, the kagome lattice can host peculiar states including flat bands [8], Dirac fermions [5,6] and spin liquid phases [7,10]. In particular, magnetic kagome materials offer a fertile ground to study emergent behaviors resulting from the interplay between unconventional magnetism and band topology. Recently, transition-metal based kagome magnets [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] are emerging as outstanding candidates for such studies, as they feature both large Berry curvature fields and unusual magnetic tunability. In this family, the kagome magnet Co 3 Sn 2 S 2 is found to exhibit both a large anomalous Hall effect and anomalous Hall angle, and is identified as a promising Weyl semimetal candidate [9,11,14,15]. However, despite knowing the magnetic ground state is ferromagnetic below T C = 177 K [16] with spins aligned along the c-axis [9, 11, 17] (see Figs. 1 a and b) there is no report of its magnetic tunability or phase diagram, and its interplay with the topological band structure. Here we use high-resolution µSR to systematically characterize the phase diagram, uncovering another intriguing in-plane antiferromagnetic phase. The magnetic competition between these two phases is further found to be highly tunable via applying either pressure [18][19][20][21] or magnetic field. Combined with first principles calculations, we discover that the tunable magnetic correlation plays a key role in determining the giant anomalous Hall transp...
Magnetic skyrmions are topologically nontrivial particles with a potential application as information elements in future spintronic device architectures 1, 2 . While they are commonly portrayed as two dimensional objects, in reality magnetic skyrmions are thought to exist as elongated, tube-like objects extending through the thickness of the sample 3, 4 . The study of this skyrmion tube (SkT) state is highly relevant for investigating skyrmion metastability 5 and for implementation in recently proposed magnonic computing 6 . However, direct experimental imaging of skyrmion tubes has yet to be reported. Here, we demonstrate the first real-space observation of skyrmion tubes in a lamella of FeGe using resonant magnetic x-ray imaging and comparative micromagnetic simulations, confirming their extended structure.The formation of these structures at the edge of the sample highlights the importance of confinement and edge effects in the stabilisation of the SkT state, opening the door to further investigations into this unexplored dimension of the skyrmion spin texture.Skyrmion states are typically stabilised by the interplay of the ferromagnetic exchange and Zeeman energies with the Dzyalohsinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) 7 . In ferromagnet/heavy metal multilayer thin films, interfacial DMI is induced by symmetry-breaking spin-orbit coupling at the interface between the layers, leading to the formation of Néel-type skyrmions [8][9][10] . Bulk DMI, arising due to the lack of centrosymmetry in the underlying crystal lattice, is responsible for the formation of Bloch-type skyrmions in a range of chiral ferromagnets [11][12][13][14][15] . In crystals of these bulk materials the skyrmion state is typically only at equilibrium in a limited range of applied magnetic field and temperature just below the Curie temperature, T c , forming a hexagonal skyrmion lattice (SkL) in a plane perpendicular to the applied magnetic field.2 Figure 1 | Visualisation of the skyrmion tube spin texture. Three dimensional visualisation of three magnetic skyrmion tubes from the micromagnetic simulations presented in this paper, illustrating their extended spin structure. The inset highlights the location of the magnetic Bloch point at the end of each skyrmion tube. 3The three dimensional visualisation in Fig. 1 depicts the extended spin structure of three magnetic skyrmion tubes. The dynamics of this skyrmion tube (SkT) state play an important role in the creation and annihilation of skyrmions. For example, metastable skyrmions, which are created beyond the equilibrium thermal range by rapid field cooling 16 , are thought to unwind into topologically trivial magnetic states through the motion of a magnetic Bloch point located at the end of each individual skyrmion tube 3, 5 . Real-space observation of this dimension of the SkT state and its associated dynamics requires an in-plane magnetic field applied perpendicular to the imaging axis. Electron imaging techniques such as Fresnel Lorentz Transmission Electron Microscopy (LTEM) 12, 13 , and elec...
One of the key questions concerning frustrated lattices that has lately emerged is the role of disorder in inducing spin-liquid-like properties. In this context, the quantum kagome antiferromagnets YCu3(OH)6Cl3, which has been recently reported as the first geometrically perfect realization of the kagome lattice with negligible magnetic/non-magnetic intersite mixing and a possible quantumspin-liquid ground state, is of particular interest. However, contrary to previous conjectures, here we show clear evidence of bulk magnetic ordering in this compound below TN = 15 K by combining bulk magnetization and heat capacity measurements, and local-probe muon spin relaxation measurements. The magnetic ordering in this material is rather unconventional in several respects. Firstly, a crossover regime where the ordered state coexists with the paramagnetic state extends down to TN /3 and, secondly, the fluctuation crossover is shifted far below TN . Moreover, persistent spin dynamics that is observed at temperatures as low as T /TN = 1/300 could be a sign of emergent excitations of correlated spin-loops or, alternatively, a sign of fragmentation of each magnetic moment into an ordered and a fluctuating part. arXiv:1904.02878v2 [cond-mat.str-el] 1 Jul 2019
We report a comprehensive study of the noncentrosymmetric superconductor Mo 3 P. Its bulk superconductivity, with T c = 5.5 K, was characterized via electrical resistivity, magnetization, and heat-capacity measurements, while its microscopic electronic properties were investigated by means of muon-spin rotation/relaxation (µSR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. In the normal state, NMR relaxation data indicate an almost ideal metallic behavior, confirmed by band-structure calculations, which suggest a relatively high electron density of states, dominated by the Mo 4d-orbitals. The low-temperature superfluid density, determined via transverse-field µSR and electronic specific heat, suggest a fully-gapped superconducting state in Mo 3 P, with ∆ 0 = 0.83 meV, the same as the BCS gap value in the weak-coupling case, and a zero-temperature magnetic penetration depth λ 0 = 126 nm. The absence of spontaneous magnetic fields below the onset of superconductivity, as determined from zero-field µSR measurements, indicates a preserved time-reversal symmetry in the superconducting state of Mo 3 P and, hence, spin-singlet pairing. Superconductivity and spin-orbit coupling in non-centrosymmetric materials:A review, Rep. Prog. Phys. 80, 036501 (2017).
The interaction between superconductivity and band topology can lead to various unconventional superconducting (SC) states, and represents a new frontier in condensed matter physics research. Recently, the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) system 2M-WS2 has been identified as a Dirac semimetal exhibiting both superconductivity with the highest Tc ∼ 8.5 K among all the TMD materials and topological surface states with a single Dirac cone. Here we report on muon spin rotation (µSR) and density functional theory studies of microscopic SC properties and the electronic structure in 2M-WS2 at ambient and under hydrostatic pressures (pmax = 1.9 GPa). The SC order parameter in 2M-WS2 is determined to have single-gap s-wave symmetry. We further show a strong negative pressure effect on Tc and on the SC gap ∆. This may be partly caused by the pressure induced reduction of the size of the electron pocket around the Γ-point, at which a band inversion appears up to the highest applied pressure. We also find that the superfluid density ns is very weakly affected by pressure. The absence of a strong pressure effect on the superfluid density and the absence of a correlation between ns and Tc in 2M-WS2, in contrast to the other SC TMDs T d -MoTe2 and 2H-NbSe2, is explained in terms of its location in the optimal (ambient pressure) and above the optimal (under pressure) superconducting regions of the phase diagram and its large distance to the other possible competing or cooperating orders. These results hint towards a complex nature of the superconductivity in TMDs, despite the observed s-wave order parameter.
Magnetic skyrmions are topologically non-trivial, swirling magnetization textures that form lattices in helimagnetic materials. These magnetic nanoparticles show promise as high efficiency next-generation information carriers, with dynamics that are governed by their topology. Among the many unusual properties of skyrmions is the tendency of their direction of motion to deviate from that of a driving force; the angle by which they diverge is a materials constant, known as the skyrmion Hall angle. In magnetic multilayer systems, where skyrmions often appear individually, not arranging themselves in a lattice, this deflection angle can be easily measured by tracing the real space motion of individual skyrmions. Here we describe a reciprocal space technique which can be used to determine the skyrmion Hall angle in the skyrmion lattice state, leveraging the properties of the skyrmion lattice under a shear drive. We demonstrate this procedure to yield a quantitative measurement of the skyrmion Hall angle in the room-temperature skyrmion system FeGe, shearing the skyrmion lattice with the magnetic field gradient generated by a single turn Oersted wire.
The binary Re 1−x Mo x alloys, known to cover the full range of solid solutions, were successfully synthesized and their crystal structures and physical properties investigated via powder x-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and heat capacity. By varying the Re/Mo ratio, we explore the full Re 1−x Mo x binary phase diagram, in all its four different solid phases: hcp-Mg (P6 3 /mmc), α-Mn (I43m), β-CrFe (P4 2 /mnm), and bcc-W (Im3m), of which the second is noncentrosymmetric with the rest being centrosymmetric. All Re 1−x Mo x alloys are superconductors, whose critical temperatures exhibit a peculiar phase diagram, characterized by three different superconducting regions. In most alloys, the T c is almost an order of magnitude higher than in pure Re and Mo. Low-temperature electronic specific-heat data evidence a fully gapped superconducting state, whose enhanced gap magnitude and specific-heat discontinuity suggest a moderately strong electron-phonon coupling across the series. Considering that several α-Mn-type ReT alloys (T = transition metal) show time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) in the superconducting state, while TRS is preserved in the isostructural Mg 10 Ir 19 B 16 or Nb 0.5 Os 0.5 , the Re 1−x Mo x alloys represent another suitable system for studying the interplay of spaceinversion, gauge, and time-reversal symmetries in future experiments expected to probe TRSB in the ReT family.
Isotropic helimagnets are known to host a diverse range of chiral magnetic states. In 2016, Rybakov et al., theorized the presence of a surface-pinned stacked spin spiral phase [F. N. Rybakov et al., New J. Phys. 18, 045002 (2016)], which has yet to be observed experimentally. The phase is characterized by surface spiral periods exceeding the host material's fundamental winding period L D . Here, we present experimental evidence for the observation of this state in lamellae of FeGe using resonant x-ray holographic imaging data and micromagnetic simulations. We find images of FeGe lamellae, exceeding a critical thickness of 300 nm (4.3L D ), exhibit contrast modulations with a field-dependent periodicity of λ 1.4L D , consistent with theoretical predictions of the stacked spiral state. The identification of this spiral state has significant implications for the stability of other coexisting spin textures, and will help complete our understanding of helimagnetic systems.
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