Colossal magnetoresistance in a nonsymmorphic antiferromagnetic insulator

Priscila Rosa; Yuanfeng Xu; Marein Rahn; Jean Souza; Satya Kushwaha; Larissa Veiga; Alessandro Bombardi; Sean Thomas; Marc Janoschek; Eric Bauer; Mun Chan; Zhijun Wang; Joe Thompson; Neil Harrison; Pascoal Pagliuso; Andrei Bernevig; Filip Ronning

doi:10.1038/s41535-020-00256-8

Colossal magnetoresistance in a nonsymmorphic antiferromagnetic insulator

Priscila Rosa, Yuanfeng Xu, Marein Rahn, Jean Souza, Satya Kushwaha, Larissa Veiga, Alessandro Bombardi, Sean Thomas, Marc Janoschek, Eric Bauer, Mun Chan, Zhijun Wang, Joe Thompson, Neil Harrison, Pascoal Pagliuso, Andrei Bernevig, Filip Ronning

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Abstract

Here we investigate antiferromagnetic Eu₅In₂Sb₆, a nonsymmorphic Zintl phase. Our electrical transport data show that Eu₅In₂Sb₆ is remarkably insulating and exhibits an exceptionally large negative magnetoresistance, which is consistent with the presence of magnetic polarons. From ab initio calculations, the paramagnetic state of Eu₅In₂Sb₆ is a topologically nontrivial semimetal within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), whereas an insulating state with trivial topological indices is obtained using a modified Becke−Johnson potential. Notably, GGA + U calculations suggest that the antiferromagnetic phase of Eu₅In₂Sb₆ may host an axion insulating state. Our results provide important feedback for theories of topological classification and highlight the potential of realizing clean magnetic narrow-gap semiconductors in Zintl materials.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	52
Journal	npj Quantum Materials
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-00256-8
State	Published - Dec 1 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Condensed Matter Physics

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10.1038/s41535-020-00256-8

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Rosa, P., Xu, Y., Rahn, M., Souza, J., Kushwaha, S., Veiga, L., Bombardi, A., Thomas, S., Janoschek, M., Bauer, E., Chan, M., Wang, Z., Thompson, J., Harrison, N., Pagliuso, P., Bernevig, A., & Ronning, F. (2020). Colossal magnetoresistance in a nonsymmorphic antiferromagnetic insulator. npj Quantum Materials, 5(1), Article 52. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-00256-8

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title = "Colossal magnetoresistance in a nonsymmorphic antiferromagnetic insulator",

abstract = "Here we investigate antiferromagnetic Eu5In2Sb6, a nonsymmorphic Zintl phase. Our electrical transport data show that Eu5In2Sb6 is remarkably insulating and exhibits an exceptionally large negative magnetoresistance, which is consistent with the presence of magnetic polarons. From ab initio calculations, the paramagnetic state of Eu5In2Sb6 is a topologically nontrivial semimetal within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), whereas an insulating state with trivial topological indices is obtained using a modified Becke−Johnson potential. Notably, GGA + U calculations suggest that the antiferromagnetic phase of Eu5In2Sb6 may host an axion insulating state. Our results provide important feedback for theories of topological classification and highlight the potential of realizing clean magnetic narrow-gap semiconductors in Zintl materials.",

author = "Priscila Rosa and Yuanfeng Xu and Marein Rahn and Jean Souza and Satya Kushwaha and Larissa Veiga and Alessandro Bombardi and Sean Thomas and Marc Janoschek and Eric Bauer and Mun Chan and Zhijun Wang and Joe Thompson and Neil Harrison and Pascoal Pagliuso and Andrei Bernevig and Filip Ronning",

note = "Funding Information: We acknowledge constructive discussions with Z. Fisk, S. Wirth, J. Muller, O. Erten and C. Kurdak. Synthesis and macroscopic measurements at low fields were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) BES “Quantum Fluctuations in Narrow-Band Systems” project. High-field magnetization measurements were supported by the DOE BES “Science of 100 Tesla” project. S.K. acknowledges support from the LANL Director{\textquoteright}s Postdoctoral LDRD program. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF/DMR-1644779 and the State of Florida. Scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray measurements were performed at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science. Electron spin resonance measurements were supported by FAPESP (SP-Brazil) grants no. 2018/ 11364-7, 2017/10581-1, 2012/04870-7, CNPq Grant no. 141026/2017-0, CAPES and FINEP-Brazil. We thank Diamond Light Source for the provision of beamtime under proposal MT18991. Work at UCL is supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grants No. EP/N027671/1 and No. EP/N034694/1) Theory efforts were supported by DOE de-sc0016239, NSF EAGER 1004957, Simons Investigator Grants, ARO MURI W911NF-12-1-0461, the Packard Foundation, and the Schmidt Fund for Innovative Research. Y.X. and A. Bernevig were supported by Max Planck society. Z.W. received support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11974395), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (Grant No. XDB33000000), and the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, The Author(s).",

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doi = "10.1038/s41535-020-00256-8",

language = "English (US)",

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T1 - Colossal magnetoresistance in a nonsymmorphic antiferromagnetic insulator

AU - Rosa, Priscila

AU - Xu, Yuanfeng

AU - Rahn, Marein

AU - Souza, Jean

AU - Kushwaha, Satya

AU - Veiga, Larissa

AU - Bombardi, Alessandro

AU - Thomas, Sean

AU - Janoschek, Marc

AU - Bauer, Eric

AU - Chan, Mun

AU - Wang, Zhijun

AU - Thompson, Joe

AU - Harrison, Neil

AU - Pagliuso, Pascoal

AU - Bernevig, Andrei

AU - Ronning, Filip

N1 - Funding Information: We acknowledge constructive discussions with Z. Fisk, S. Wirth, J. Muller, O. Erten and C. Kurdak. Synthesis and macroscopic measurements at low fields were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) BES “Quantum Fluctuations in Narrow-Band Systems” project. High-field magnetization measurements were supported by the DOE BES “Science of 100 Tesla” project. S.K. acknowledges support from the LANL Director’s Postdoctoral LDRD program. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF/DMR-1644779 and the State of Florida. Scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray measurements were performed at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science. Electron spin resonance measurements were supported by FAPESP (SP-Brazil) grants no. 2018/ 11364-7, 2017/10581-1, 2012/04870-7, CNPq Grant no. 141026/2017-0, CAPES and FINEP-Brazil. We thank Diamond Light Source for the provision of beamtime under proposal MT18991. Work at UCL is supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grants No. EP/N027671/1 and No. EP/N034694/1) Theory efforts were supported by DOE de-sc0016239, NSF EAGER 1004957, Simons Investigator Grants, ARO MURI W911NF-12-1-0461, the Packard Foundation, and the Schmidt Fund for Innovative Research. Y.X. and A. Bernevig were supported by Max Planck society. Z.W. received support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11974395), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (Grant No. XDB33000000), and the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program. Publisher Copyright: © 2020, The Author(s).

PY - 2020/12/1

Y1 - 2020/12/1

N2 - Here we investigate antiferromagnetic Eu5In2Sb6, a nonsymmorphic Zintl phase. Our electrical transport data show that Eu5In2Sb6 is remarkably insulating and exhibits an exceptionally large negative magnetoresistance, which is consistent with the presence of magnetic polarons. From ab initio calculations, the paramagnetic state of Eu5In2Sb6 is a topologically nontrivial semimetal within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), whereas an insulating state with trivial topological indices is obtained using a modified Becke−Johnson potential. Notably, GGA + U calculations suggest that the antiferromagnetic phase of Eu5In2Sb6 may host an axion insulating state. Our results provide important feedback for theories of topological classification and highlight the potential of realizing clean magnetic narrow-gap semiconductors in Zintl materials.

AB - Here we investigate antiferromagnetic Eu5In2Sb6, a nonsymmorphic Zintl phase. Our electrical transport data show that Eu5In2Sb6 is remarkably insulating and exhibits an exceptionally large negative magnetoresistance, which is consistent with the presence of magnetic polarons. From ab initio calculations, the paramagnetic state of Eu5In2Sb6 is a topologically nontrivial semimetal within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), whereas an insulating state with trivial topological indices is obtained using a modified Becke−Johnson potential. Notably, GGA + U calculations suggest that the antiferromagnetic phase of Eu5In2Sb6 may host an axion insulating state. Our results provide important feedback for theories of topological classification and highlight the potential of realizing clean magnetic narrow-gap semiconductors in Zintl materials.

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Colossal magnetoresistance in a nonsymmorphic antiferromagnetic insulator

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