Out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy in bulk ilmenite $\text{CoTiO}_3$

TL;DR

This study uses density functional theory to analyze the magnetic properties of bulk CoTiO$_3$, revealing out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy that can be tuned by electron doping, with implications for magnon and topological properties.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates how electron doping influences magnetic anisotropy in bulk CoTiO$_3$, providing insights into disorder effects and potential topological magnon phenomena.

Findings

G-type antiferromagnetic ground state confirmed

Out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy identified with spin-orbit coupling

Small electron doping switches anisotropy from out-of-plane to in-plane

Abstract

Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of bulk ilmenite CoTiO$_3$ are analyzed in the framework of density functional theory (DFT), using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and Hubbard-corrected approaches. We find that the G-type antiferromagnetic (G-AFM) structure, which consists of antiferromagnetically coupled ferromagnetic $ab$ planes, is the ground-state of the system, in agreement with experiments. Furthermore, cobalt titanates present two critical temperatures related to the breaking of the inter- and intra-layer magnetic ordering. This would result in the individual planes remaining ferromagnetic even at temperatures above the N\'{e}el temperature. When spin-orbit coupling is included in our calculations, we find an out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy, which can be converted to an in-plane anisotropy with a small doping of electrons corresponding to about 2.5% Ti substitution for Co, consistent with experimental expectations. We thus present a disorder-dependent study of the magnetic anisotropy in bulk $\text{CoTiO}_3$, which will determine its magnon properties, including topological aspects.