Sign-tunable anomalous Hall effect induced by two-dimensional symmetry-protected nodal structures in ferromagnetic perovskite oxide thin films

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how symmetry-protected nodal structures in 2D ferromagnetic perovskite oxide films influence the anomalous Hall effect, with experimental validation through ARPES on ultrathin SrRuO3 films.

Contribution

It provides the first direct characterization of topological band structures and AHE in 2D spin-polarized systems, revealing symmetry's role in controlling AHE sign and magnitude.

Findings

Symmetry-protected nodal lines and points govern AHE in 2D ferromagnetic oxides.

Experimental ARPES data confirms theoretical models of topological band structures.

AHE sign and magnitude can be tuned by film thickness, magnetization, and chemical potential.

Abstract

Magnetism and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) are two quintessential ingredients underlying novel topological transport phenomena in itinerant ferromagnets. When spin-polarized bands support nodal points/lines with band degeneracy that can be lifted by SOC, the nodal structures become a source of Berry curvature; this leads to a large anomalous Hall effect (AHE). Contrary to three-dimensional systems that naturally host nodal points/lines, two-dimensional (2D) systems can possess stable nodal structures only when proper crystalline symmetry exists. Here we show that 2D spin-polarized band structures of perovskite oxides generally support symmetry-protected nodal lines and points that govern both the sign and the magnitude of the AHE. To demonstrate this, we performed angle-resolved photoemission studies of ultrathin films of SrRuO$_3$, a representative metallic ferromagnet with SOC. We show that the sign-changing AHE upon variation in the film thickness, magnetization, and chemical potential can be well explained by theoretical models. Our study is the first to directly characterize the topological band structure of 2D spin-polarized bands and the corresponding AHE, which could facilitate new switchable devices based on ferromagnetic ultrathin films.