Detection of antiskyrmions by topological Hall effect in Heusler compounds
Vivek Kumar, Nitesh Kumar, M. Reehuis, Jacob Gayles, A. S. Sukhanov, A. Hoser, F. Damay, Chandra Shekhar, Péter Adler, Claudia Felser
Abstract
Heusler compounds having ${D}_{2d}$ crystal symmetry gained much attention recently due to the stabilization of a vortexlike spin texture called antiskyrmions in thin lamellae of $\mathrm{M}{\mathrm{n}}_{1.4}\mathrm{P}{\mathrm{t}}_{0.9}\mathrm{P}{\mathrm{d}}_{0.1}\mathrm{Sn}$ as reported in the work of Nayak et al. [Nature (London) 548, 561 (2017)]. Here we show that bulk $\mathrm{M}{\mathrm{n}}_{1.4}\mathrm{P}{\mathrm{t}}_{0.9}\mathrm{P}{\mathrm{d}}_{0.1}\mathrm{Sn}$ undergoes a spin-reorientation transition from a collinear ferromagnetic to a noncollinear configuration of Mn moments below 135 K, which is accompanied by the emergence of a topological Hall effect. We tune the topological Hall effect in Pd and Rh substituted $\mathrm{M}{\mathrm{n}}_{1.4}\mathrm{PtSn}$ Heusler compounds by changing the intrinsic magnetic properties and spin textures. A unique feature of the present system is the observation of a zero-field topological Hall resistivity with a sign change which indicates the robust formation of antiskyrmions.