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Electrical switching of the topological anomalous Hall effect in a non-collinear antiferromagnet above room temperature

Nature Electronics volume 1, pages 172–177 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

The anomalous Hall effect is allowed by symmetry in some non-collinear antiferromagnets and is associated with Bloch-band topological features. This topological anomalous Hall effect is of interest in the development of low-power electronic devices, but such devices are likely to demand electrical control over the effect. Here we report the observation of the anomalous Hall effect in high-quality thin films of the cubic non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn3Pt epitaxially grown on ferroelectric BaTiO3 substrates. We demonstrate that epitaxial strain can alter the anomalous Hall conductivity of the Mn3Pt films by more than an order of magnitude. Furthermore, we show that the anomalous Hall effect can be turned on and off by applying a small electric field to the BaTiO3 substrate when the heterostructure is at a temperature of around 360 K and the Mn3Pt is close to the phase transition between a low-temperature non-collinear antiferromagnetic state and a high-temperature collinear antiferromagnetic state. The switching effect is due to piezoelectric strain transferred from the BaTiO3 substrate to the Mn3Pt film by interfacial strain mediation.

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Fig. 1: Growth and structure of a 20-nm-thick Mn3Pt/BaTiO3 (Mn3Pt/BTO) heterostructure.
Fig. 2: Transport properties, lattice constant and magnetism of a 20-nm-thick Mn3Pt/BTO heterostructure.
Fig. 3: Thickness dependence at room temperature.
Fig. 4: Electrical switching.
Fig. 5: Theoretical calculations of Berry curvature and AHE.

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Acknowledgements

Z.Q.L. acknowledges financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC grant no. 51771009) and a startup grant from Beihang University. H.C. and A.H.M. are supported by SHINES, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under award #SC0012670, and Welch Foundation grant TBF1473. H.C. and A.H.M acknowledge the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin for providing high-performance computer resources for performing the electronic structure calculations. J.M.D.C. acknowledges support from Science Foundation Ireland contract no. 12/RC/2278. X.R.W. acknowledges supports from a Nanyang Assistant Professorship grant from Nanyang Technological University and Academic Research Fund Tier 1 (RG108/17S) from the Singapore Ministry of Education.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Z. Q. Liu, H. Chen.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    Z. Q. Liu, J. M. Wang, J. H. Liu, Z. X. Feng, H. Yan & C. B. Jiang

  2. Department of Physics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    H. Chen

  3. Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    H. Chen & A. H. MacDonald

  4. Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    K. Wang

  5. School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences & School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    X. R. Wang

  6. Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

    J. M. D. Coey

  7. International Research Center of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    J. M. D. Coey

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  1. Z. Q. Liu
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Contributions

Z.Q.L. performed sample growth and electrical and magnetic measurements, with assistance from J.M.W., J.H.L., K.W., Z.X.F., H.Y., X.R.W. and C.B.J. Structural measurements were performed by Z.Q.L. and K.W. Theoretical calculations were performed by H.C. and A.H.M. All authors contributed to the discussion of results. Z.Q.L., H.C., J.M.D.C and A.H.M wrote the manuscript. Z.Q.L. led the project.

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Correspondence to Z. Q. Liu.

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Liu, Z.Q., Chen, H., Wang, J.M. et al. Electrical switching of the topological anomalous Hall effect in a non-collinear antiferromagnet above room temperature. Nat Electron 1, 172–177 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-018-0040-1

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