Comparative study of topological Hall effect and skyrmions in NiMnIn and NiMnGa

Wenyong Zhang, Balamurugan Balasubramanian, Ahsan Ullah, Rabindra Pahari, Xingzhong Li, Lanping Yue, Shah R. Valloppilly, Andrei Sokolov, Ralph Skomski, David J. Sellmyer

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28 Scopus citations

Abstract

A nonequilibrium rapid-quenching method has been used to fabricate NiMnIn and NiMnGa alloys that are chemically and morphologically similar but crystallographically and physically very different. NiMnGa crystallizes in a Ni2In-type hexagonal structure, whereas NiMnIn is a cubic Heusler alloy. Both alloys yield a topological Hall effect contribution corresponding to bubble-type skyrmion spin structures, but it occurs in much lower magnetic fields in NiMnIn as compared to NiMnGa. The effect is unrelated to net Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, which are absent in both alloys due to their inversion-symmetric crystal structures. Based on magnetic-force microscopy, we explain the difference between the two alloys by magnetocrystalline anisotropy and uniaxial and cubic anisotropies yielding full-fledged and reduced topological Hall effects, respectively. Since NiMnIn involves small magnetic fields (0.02-0.3 kOe) at and above room temperature, it is of potential interest in spin electronics.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number172404
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume115
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 21 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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