News

Department of Physics & Astronomy

[Yoonhan Lee and Kee Hoon Kim] High-Temperature concomitant metal-insulator and spin-reorientation transitions in a compressed nodal-line ferrimagnet Mn3Si2Te6 (published in Nature Communications)

June 24, 2024l Hit 476

High-Temperature concomitant metal-insulator and spin-reorientation transitions in a compressed nodal-line ferrimagnet Mn3Si2Te6

Symmetry-protected band degeneracy, coupled with a magnetic order, is the key to realizing novel magnetoelectric phenomena in topological magnets. While the spin-polarized nodal states have been identified to introduce extremely-sensitive electronic responses to the magnetic states, their possible role in determining magnetic ground states has remained elusive. Here, taking external pressure as a control knob, we show that a metal-insulator transition, a spin-reorientation transition, and a structural modification occur concomitantly when the nodal-line state crosses the Fermi level in a ferrimagnetic semiconductor Mn3Si2Te6. These unique pressure-driven magnetic and electronic transitions, associated with the dome-shaped Tc variation up to nearly room temperature, originate from the interplay between the spin-orbit coupling of the nodal-line state and magnetic frustration of localized spins. Our findings highlight that the nodal-line states, isolated from other trivial states, can facilitate strongly tunable magnetic properties in topological magnets.

Authors : Resta A. Susilo*, Chang Il Kwon*, Yoonhan Lee* (SNU), Nilesh P. Salke, Chandan De, Junho Seo, Beomtak Kang, Russell J. Hemley, Philip Dalladay-Simpson, Zifan Wang, Duck Young Kim, Kyoo Kim, Sang-Wook Cheong, Han Woong Yeom, Kee Hoon Kim* (SNU) & Jun Sung Kim (POSTECH)*

Nat. Commun. 15, 3998 (2024)
doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48432-9