Anomalous Nernst Effect in an Antiperovskite Antiferromagnet

The anomalous Nernst effect (ANE), the generation of a transverse electric voltage by a longitudinal temperature gradient, has attracted increasing interest from researchers recently, due to its potential in thermoelectric power conversion and close relevance to the Berry curvature of the band structure. Avoiding the stray field of ferromagnets, the ANE in antiferromagnets (AFMs) has the advantage of realizing highly efficient and densely integrated thermopiles. Here, we report the observation of the ANE in an antiperovskite noncollinear AFM, Mn3SnN, experimentally, which is triggered by the enhanced Berry curvature from Weyl points located close to the Fermi level. Considering that antiperovskite Mn3SnN has a rich magnetic phase transition, we modulate the noncollinear AFM configurations by the biaxial strain, which enables us to control its ANE. Our findings provide a potential class of materials to explore the Weyl physics of noncollinear AFMs as well as realizing antiferromagnetic spin caloritronics that exhibits promising prospects for energy conversion and information processing.

Automated summary

This article reports the experimental observation of the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) in an antiperovskite noncollinear antiferromagnet, Mn3SnN, which is triggered by the enhanced Berry curvature from Weyl points. By modulating strain, the ANE in the noncollinear antiferromagnet can be controlled, providing a potential class of materials for exploring Weyl physics and realizing antiferromagnetic spin caloritronics.