Large Topological Magnetic Optical Effects and Imaging of Antiferromagnetic Octupole Domains of an Altermagnet-like Weyl Semimetal

TL;DR

This study demonstrates large topological magnetic optical effects and imaging of antiferromagnetic domains in Eu₂Ir₂O₇, revealing Berry curvature-induced dichroism and Kerr signals in a Weyl semimetal with vanishing net magnetization, advancing topological antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Contribution

First direct imaging of antiferromagnetic octupole domains and observation of magnetic circular dichroism in a topological Weyl semimetal with zero net magnetization.

Findings

Detected large magnetic circular dichroism and Kerr effect in Eu₂Ir₂O₇ at zero magnetic field.

Imaged all-in--all-out and all-out--all-in antiferromagnetic domains.

Established the link between Berry curvature effects and magneto-optical responses in topological antiferromagnets.

Abstract

Pyrochlore iridates have attracted significant interest due to their complex phase behavior arising from the interplay among electron correlations, quantum metric in flat bands, geometrically frustrated lattices, and topology induced by strong spin-orbit coupling. In this study, we focus on Eu$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ thin films oriented along the (111) crystallographic direction. This quantum material, identified as an antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetal, exhibits a large anomalous Hall effect in transport experiments. Here we employ optical circular dichroism microscopy, to directly image ferroic octupole order and resolve all-in--all-out and all-out--all-in antiferromagnetic domains below the N\'eel temperature. Remarkably, despite the absence of a detectable net magnetic moment at zero applied magnetic field, we detected a large magnetic circular dichroism signal ($\sim 10^{-4}$) and Kerr effect ($\sim 10^{-4}$ radians) in zero magnetic field attributable to Berry curvature effects from Weyl nodes. Eu$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ is a non-collinear magnet with vanishing net moment and magnetic octupole order, similar to the recently proposed collinear d-wave altermagnets, allowing for magneto-optical responses and anomalous Hall effect. This finding likely represents the first demonstration of magnetic circular dichroism and Kerr effect in a topologically non-trivial quantum antiferromagnet with a vanishing net magnetization. Our work opens up the possibility of ultrafast domain switching in the terahertz frequency and the domain wall dynamics in the magnetic Weyl systems, which establishes the foundation for topological antiferromagnetic spintronics.