Neutron scattering investigation of the field-induced magnetic orders in EuIn<sub>2</sub>As<sub>2</sub>.
ORAL
Abstract
We recently demonstrated that hexagonal EuIn2As2 exhibits a zero-field low-symmetry helical antiferromagnetic order that makes the compound a stoichiometric magnetic topological-crystalline axion insulator[1]. It is predicted that the topological properties of the surface states can be tuned according to the direction and strength of an applied magnetic field. We continue our investigation of EuIn2As2 by performing single-crystal neutron diffraction experiments while using an external magnetic field in order to determine field-induced changes to the magnetic order. With increasing field applied in the basal plane, our results are consistent with the spins first flopping out of the plane while keeping a complex in-plane spiral periodicity. The out of plane component is then progressively suppressed and a coplanar fan-type structure appears before the fully field polarized state prevails. The intermediate-field magnetic ordering may give rise to exotic topology associated with a non-coplanar spin texture.
*This work was supported by the Center for Advancement of Topological Semimetals, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. DOE Office of Science, Office of BES, through Ames Laboratory under its Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11358. Contributions also comes from work performed at the Ames Laboratory and was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of BES, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering uder the previously mentioned Contract. This research further uses resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
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Publication: [1] Riberolles et al., Nat Commun 12, 999 (2021)
Presenters
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Simon X Riberolles
- Ames Lab