English

Origin of the large topological Hall effect in the EuCd$_2$Sb$_2$ antiferromagnet

Materials Science 2026-02-24 v2

Abstract

We study the origin of large topological Hall effect in the single-crystalline EuCd2_2Sb2_2, which orders antiferromagnetically at the N\'eel temperature TN=7.4T_{\rm N}=7.4 K. Measurements of magnetoresistance and Hall resistivity disclose anomalies that evolve with temperature and magnetic field, closely tracking the magnetization process. Analysis of these data identifies three possible mechanisms responsible for the enhanced Berry curvature driving the observed topological Hall effect. Below and above TNT_{\rm N}, Weyl states are the main sources of large momentum-space Berry curvature, though their formation mechanisms differ in these two temperature ranges. Below TNT_{\rm N}, breaking of C3C_{3} symmetry generates Dirac points that split into Weyl nodes in applied magnetic field, whereas above TNT_{\rm N}, strong spin fluctuations can induce Weyl states. The third contribution, which occurs below TNT_{\rm N}, arises from scalar spin chirality developing within antiferromagnetic domain walls, which generates a real-space Berry curvature.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.17445,
  title  = {Origin of the large topological Hall effect in the EuCd$_2$Sb$_2$ antiferromagnet},
  author = {Faheem Gul and Orest Pavlosiuk and Tetiana Romanova and Dariusz Kaczorowski and Piotr Wiśniewski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.17445},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

10 pages, 6 figures, Supplemental Material has 4 pages and 5 figures