Kagome KMn$_3$Sb$_5$ metal: Magnetism, lattice dynamics, and anomalous Hall conductivity

TL;DR

This study predicts that the novel kagome metal KMn$_3$Sb$_5$ is a dynamically stable ferromagnetic material with topologically protected Weyl nodes and a significant anomalous Hall effect, making it promising for spintronic applications.

Contribution

First-principles calculations reveal KMn$_3$Sb$_5$ as a stable ferromagnetic kagome metal with large anomalous Hall conductivity and Weyl nodes, distinct from its vanadium-based counterpart.

Findings

KMn$_3$Sb$_5$ is dynamically stable and ferromagnetic.

It exhibits a large anomalous Hall conductivity of 314 S·cm$^{-1}$.

Presence of topologically protected Weyl nodes near the Fermi level.

Abstract

Kagome metals are reported to exhibit remarkable properties, including superconductivity, charge density wave order, and a large anomalous Hall conductivity, which facilitate the implementation of spintronic devices. In this work, we study a novel kagome metal based on Mn magnetic sites in a KMn$_3$Sb$_5$ stoichiometry. By means of first-principles density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that the studied compound is dynamically stable, locking the ferromagnetic order as the ground state configuration, thus preventing the charge-density-wave state as reported in its vanadium-based counterpart KV$_3$Sb$_5$. Our calculations predict that KMn$_3$Sb$_5$ exhibits an out-of-plane (001) ferromagnetic response as the ground state, allowing for the emergence of topologically protected Weyl nodes near the Fermi level and nonzero anomalous Hall conductivity ($\sigma_{ij}$) in this centrosymmetric system. We obtain a tangible $\sigma_{xy} = 314$ S$\cdot$cm$^{-1}$ component, which is comparable to that of other kagome metals. Finally, we explore the effect of the on-site Coulomb repulsion ($+U$) on the structural and electronic properties and find that, although the lattice parameters and $\sigma_{xy}$ moderately vary with increasing $+U$, KMn$_3$Sb$_5$ stands as an ideal stable ferromagnetic kagome metal with a large anomalous Hall conductivity response.