Enhanced transverse electron transport via disordered composite formation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal, tunable method to enhance transverse electron transport in magnetic materials by forming disordered composites, overcoming limitations of crystalline approaches.

Contribution

It presents a novel composite formation strategy that significantly boosts transverse electron deflection without relying on crystalline order, supported by theoretical and experimental evidence.

Findings

Disordered mixtures create meandering electron pathways enhancing transverse transport.

The mechanism is independent of long-range crystalline order.

The approach is broadly applicable across different material systems.

Abstract

Transverse electron transport in magnetic materials - manifested in effects such as the anomalous Hall and Nernst effects - holds promise for spintronic and thermoelectric applications. While recent advances have focused on enhancing such transport through topological single crystals via intrinsic mechanisms linked to Berry curvature, practical limitations remain due to their mechanical fragility and narrow material scope. Here, we demonstrate a distinct approach for transverse transport enhancement based on composite formation. Using both theoretical modeling and experiments, we show that disordered mixtures of two ferromagnetic materials can exhibit significantly stronger transverse electron deflection than either constituent alone. This enhancement originates from meandering electron pathways created by the disordered mixture of two materials and does not rely on long-range crystalline order. The identified requirements for this mechanism can be broadly satisfied across different material systems, offering a universal and tunable strategy to engineer large transverse responses in structurally robust platforms.