Field-induced magnetic phase transitions and the resultant giant anomalous Hall effect in antiferromagnetic half-Heusler DyPtBi

TL;DR

This study investigates how magnetic field-induced phase transitions in antiferromagnetic DyPtBi lead to a giant anomalous Hall effect, highlighting the role of Berry curvature and spin chirality in this phenomenon.

Contribution

It demonstrates the control of magnetic ground states in DyPtBi via magnetic fields and links these states to a significant anomalous Hall effect, revealing new insights into antiferromagnetic topological materials.

Findings

Magnetic field induces phase transitions in DyPtBi.

Giant anomalous Hall effect observed in field-induced spin structure.

Berry curvature and spin chirality contribute to the Hall effect.

Abstract

We report field-induced magnetic phase transitions and transport properties of antiferromagnetic DyPtBi. We show that DyPtBi hosts a delicate balance between two different magnetic ground states, which can be controlled by a moderate magnetic field. Furthermore, it exhibits giant anomalous Hall effect (\sigma_A=1540 (ohm cm)^{-1},\theta_{AHE} = 24%) in a field-induced Type-I spin structure, presumably attributed to the enhanced Berry curvature associated with avoided band-crossings near the Fermi energy and / or non-zero spin chirality. The latter mechanism points DyPtBi towards a rare potential realization of anomalous Hall effect in an antiferromagnet with face-center-cubic lattice that was proposed in [Physical Review Letters 87, 116801 (2001)].