Contributor info: Dr Alaska Subedi

Xiaokang Li, Liangcai Xu, Huakun Zuo, Alaska Subedi, Zengwei Zhu, Kamran Behnia

SciPost Phys. 5, 063 (2018) · published 18 December 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Mn$_{3}$X (X= Sn, Ge) are noncollinear antiferromagnets hosting a large anomalous Hall effect (AHE). Weyl nodes in the electronic dispersions are believed to cause this AHE, but their locus in the momentum space is yet to be pinned down. We present a detailed study of the Hall conductivity tensor and magnetization in Mn$_{3}$Sn crystals and find that in the presence of a moderate magnetic field, spin texture sets the orientation of the $k$-space Berry curvature with no detectable in-plane anisotropy due to the $Z_6$ symmetry of the underlying lattice. We quantify the energy cost of domain nucleation and show that themultidomain regime is restricted to a narrow field window. Comparing the field dependence of AHE and magnetization, we find that there is a distinct component in the AHE which does not scale with magnetization when the domain walls are erected. This so-called `topological' Hall effect provides indirect evidence for a non-coplanar spin components and real-space Berry curvature in domain walls.

Alaska Subedi

SciPost Phys. 5, 020 (2018) · published 5 September 2018 | Toggle abstract · pdf

I study the structural and magnetic instabilities in LaNiO$_3$ using density functional theory calculations. From the non-spin-polarized structural relaxations, I find that several structures with different Glazer tilts lie close in energy. The $Pnma$ structure is marginally favored compared to the $R\overline{3}c$ structure in my calculations, suggesting the presence of finite-temperature structural fluctuations and a possible proximity to a structural quantum critical point. In the spin-polarized relaxations, both structures exhibit the $\uparrow\!\!0\!\!\downarrow\!\!0$ antiferromagnetic ordering with a rock-salt arrangement of the octahedral breathing distortions. The energy gain due to the breathing distortions is larger than that due to the antiferromagnetic ordering. These phases are semimetallic with small three-dimensional Fermi pockets, which is largely consistent with the recent observation of the coexistence of antiferromagnetism and metallicity in LaNiO$_3$ single crystals by Guo et al. [Nat. Commun. 9, 43 (2018)].