Magnetization Dependent In-plane Anomalous Hall Effect in a Low-dimensional System

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental discovery of an unconventional anomalous Hall effect in a low-dimensional heterostructure, where the Hall response depends on both in-plane and out-of-plane magnetization components, enabled by symmetry breaking.

Contribution

The study demonstrates a new form of anomalous Hall effect in a low-symmetry heterostructure, showing tunability via electrostatic gating and elucidating the underlying symmetry-breaking mechanisms.

Findings

Hall response depends on in-plane magnetization component.

Gate voltage modulates the anomalous Hall effect.

Symmetry considerations explain the emergence of in-plane AHE.

Abstract

Anomalous Hall Effect (AHE) response in magnetic systems is typically proportional to an out-of-plane magnetization component because of the restriction imposed by system symmetries, which demands that the magnetization, applied electric field, and induced Hall current are mutually orthogonal to each other. Here, we report experimental realization of an unconventional form of AHE in a low-dimensional heterostructure, wherein the Hall response is not only proportional to the out-of-plane magnetization component but also to the in-plane magnetization component. By interfacing a low-symmetry topological semimetal (TaIrTe4) with the ferromagnetic insulator (Cr2Ge2Te6), we create a low-dimensional magnetic system, where only one mirror symmetry is preserved. We show that as long as the magnetization has a finite component in the mirror plane, this last mirror symmetry is broken, allowing the emergence of an AHE signal proportional to in-plane magnetization. Our experiments, conducted on multiple devices, reveal a gate-voltage-dependent AHE response, suggesting that the underlying mechanisms responsible for the Hall effect in our system can be tuned via electrostatic gating. A minimal microscopic model constrained by the symmetry of the heterostructure shows that both interfacial spin-orbit coupling and time-reversal symmetry breaking via the exchange interaction from magnetization are responsible for the emergence of the in-plane AHE. Our work highlights the importance of system symmetries and exchange interaction in low-dimensional heterostructures for designing novel and tunable Hall effects in layered quantum systems.