Magnetism and topological Hall effect in antiferromagnetic Ru₂MnSn-based Heusler compounds

Heusler compounds and alloys based on them are of great recent interest because they exhibit a wide variety of spin structures, magnetic properties, and electron-transport phenomena. Their properties are tunable by alloying and we have investigated L2₁-orderd compound Ru₂MnSn and its alloys by varying the atomic Mn:Sn composition. While antiferromagnetic ordering with a Néel temperature of 361 K was observed in Ru₂MnSn, the Mn-poor Ru₂Mn_0.8Sn_1.2 alloy exhibits properties of a diluted antiferromagnet in which there are localized regions of uncompensated Mn spins. Furthermore, a noncoplanar spin structure, evident from a topological Hall-effect contribution to the room-temperature Hall resistivity, is realized in Ru₂Mn_0.8Sn_1.2. Our combined experimental and theoretical analysis shows that in the Ru₂Mn_0.8Sn_1.2 alloy, the magnetic properties can be explained in terms of a noncoplanar antiferromagnetic scissor mode, which creates a small net magnetization in a magnetic field and subsequently yields a Berry curvature with a strong topological Hall effect.