Anomalous Hall and Nernst effect switching via staggered rotation in a kagome antiferromagnetic semimetal

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that small staggered rotations of spins in a noncollinear antiferromagnet can induce and control anomalous Hall and Nernst effects by modifying the electronic structure and Berry curvature.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of staggered spin rotation to induce and tune anomalous transport properties in antiferromagnetic semimetals.

Findings

Staggered rotation induces finite anomalous Hall and Nernst conductivities.

The sign and magnitude of conductivities can be tuned via staggered rotation.

Spin-orbit coupling plays a critical role in the electronic structure modifications.

Abstract

The intricate interplay between magnetism and the topology of electronic structures provides a rich avenue for tailoring materials with unique and potent anomalous transport properties. In this paper, we present a strategy for inducing robust Berry curvature and anomalous transverse conductivity in noncollinear antiferromagnets through an unconventional approach termed ``small \textit{staggered rotation} of spin". Considering noncollinear Mn$_3$Sn, we demonstrate that the positive vector chirality antiferromagnetic configuration, typically associated with a vanishing anomalous Hall effect and Nernst effect, can be manipulated to exhibit finite anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) and anomalous Nernst conductivity (ANC) through \textit{staggered rotation}. Furthermore, we illustrate that the value and sign of both the AHC and ANC can be tuned through \textit{staggered rotation}. This tuning is intricately influenced by the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) induced gapped nodal line, revealing the critical role of electronic structure modifications in achieving precise control over transport properties.