Strain-tunable Berry curvature in quasi-two-dimensional chromium telluride
Abstract
Magnetic transition metal chalcogenides form an emerging platform for exploring spin-orbit driven Berry phase phenomena owing to the nontrivial interplay between topology and magnetism. Here we show that the anomalous Hall effect in pristine Cr2Te3 thin films manifests a unique temperature-dependent sign reversal at nonzero magnetization, resulting from the momentum-space Berry curvature as established by first-principles simulations. The sign change is strain tunable, enabled by the sharp and well-defined substrate/film interface in the quasi-two-dimensional Cr2Te3 epitaxial films, revealed by scanning transmission electron microscopy and depth-sensitive polarized neutron reflectometry. This Berry phase effect further introduces hump-shaped Hall peaks in pristine Cr2Te3 near the coercive field during the magnetization switching process, owing to the presence of strain-modulated magnetic layers/domains. The versatile interface tunability of Berry curvature in Cr2Te3 thin films offers new opportunities for topological electronics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 03, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s41467-023-38995-4
Entities
People
- Alexandre C Foucher
- Alice T. Greenberg
- Charles Rong
- D. Heiman
- Frances M. Ross
- Gen Yin
- George J. De Coster
- Haile Ambaye
- Hang Chi
- Jagadeesh Moodera
- Jong K Keum
- Joseph B Murray
- Mahesh R. Neupane
- Michael Dreyer
- Owen A. Vail
- Patrick A. Folkes
- Patrick J. Taylor
- Robert Butera
- Roger Lake
- Sohee Kwon
- Tim B. Eldred
- Valeria Lauter
- Wenpei Gao
- Yuhang Liu
- Yunbo Ou
Organizations
- United States Army Research Laboratory