Direct imaging and control of Berry curvature in noncollinear antiferromagnetic single-crystal thin films

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the direct imaging and control of Berry curvature in noncollinear antiferromagnetic thin films, revealing how domain dynamics influence anomalous Hall effects and enabling potential spintronic applications.

Contribution

It presents the first high-resolution imaging of Berry curvature in epitaxial Mn3NiN thin films and explores domain control near the Néel transition.

Findings

Berry curvature imaged with high resolution using Sagnac microscopy.

Γ4g domains are switchable near the Néel transition.

Berry curvature and AHE responses can be tuned by temperature and magnetic fields.

Abstract

The discovery of the intrinsic anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in noncollinear antiferromagnets where transverse Hall voltage emerges without magnetic field, has opened a plethora of promising opportunities in antiferromagnetic devices. The key challenges limiting their full potential are (1) high-quality epitaxial thin-film growth and (2) the understanding of Berry curvature domain physics. Here, we focus on a noncollinear antiperovskite antiferromagnet Mn3NiN as a model system, successfully grown as a single-crystal epitaxial thin film. Combining multiple experiments supported by theoretical calculations, we probe the Berry curvature associated with antiferromagnetic {\Gamma}4g domains in Mn3NiN and its strong connection to an AHE. We directly image the intrinsic Berry curvature with high-resolution Sagnac microscopy, controlling spatial distribution and dynamics by varying temperature and applied magnetic fields. We discover that the {\Gamma}4g domains are switchable near the N\'eel transition, but become frozen and unresponsive to external stimuli at low temperature. This behavior enables the tuning of Berry-curvature driven AHE and magneto-optic Kerr effect responses through controlled experimental conditions. Our findings provide critical advancement of the fundamental understanding and wide tunability of Berry curvature in noncollinear antiferromagnets important for realization in potential spintronic applications.