Chemical Potential Switching of the Anomalous Hall Effect in an Ultrathin Noncollinear Antiferromagnetic Metal

The discovery of the anomalous Hall effect in noncollinear antiferromagnetic metals represents one of the most important breakthroughs for the emergent antiferromagnetic spintronics. The tuning of chemical potential has been an important theoretical approach to varying the anomalous Hall conductivity, but the direct experimental demonstration has been challenging owing to the large carrier density of metals. In this work, an ultrathin noncollinear antiferromagnetic Mn3Ge film is fabricated and its carrier density is modulated by ionic liquid gating. Via a small voltage of approximate to 3 V, its carrier density is altered by approximate to 90% and, accordingly, the anomalous Hall effect is completely switched off. This work thus creates an attractive new way to steering the anomalous Hall effect in noncollinear antiferromagnets.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the modulation of carrier density in an ultrathin noncollinear antiferromagnetic film, leading to the complete shutdown of the anomalous Hall effect.