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1. Exchange biased anomalous Hall effect driven by frustration in a magnetic kagome lattice

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14326-9  

   Lachman, Ella ; Murphy, Ryan A. ; Maksimovic, Nikola ; Kealhofer, Robert ; Haley, Shannon ; McDonald, Ross D. ; Long, Jeffrey R. ; Analytis, James G. ( January 2020 , Nature Communications)

   Co$$_{3}$$${}_3$Sn$$_{2}$$${}_2$S$$_{2}$$${}_2$is a ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal that has been the subject of intense scientific interest due to its large anomalous Hall effect. We show that the coupling of this material’s topological properties to its magnetic texture leads to a strongly exchange biased anomalous Hall effect. We argue that this is likely caused by the coexistence of ferromagnetism and geometric frustration intrinsic to the kagome network of magnetic ions, giving rise to spin-glass behavior and an exchange bias.
2. Intrinsic ferromagnetism and topological properties in two-dimensional rhenium halides

   https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NR00315K  

   Sun, Qilong ; Kioussis, Nicholas ( March 2019 , Nanoscale)

   The realization of robust intrinsic ferromagnetism in two-dimensional (2D) materials in conjunction with the intriguing quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect has provided a fertile ground for novel physics and for the next-generation spintronic and topological devices. On the basis of density functional theory (DFT), we predict that layered 5d transition-metal heavier halides (TMHs), such as ReX 3 (X = Br, I), show intrinsic ferromagnetism with high spin polarization and high Curie temperatures. The outstanding dynamic and thermodynamic stability ensures their experimental feasibility. The strong spin–orbit coupling (SOC) of Re makes the electronic structure of the ReI 3 monolayer topologically nontrivialmore »with a large Chern number ( C = −4). DFT+ U calculations reveal that the 2D system undergoes a nontrivial to trivial transition with increasing on-site Hubbard Coulomb interaction U through the emergence of a Dirac cone. This transition is corroborated by the emergence of chiral edge states and the anomalous Hall conductivity. These findings not only demonstrate room-temperature ferromagnetism in atomically thin 5d TMHs, but also pave the way for the potential realization of the QAH effect with high Chern numbers in pristine 2D layers.« less
3. Giant spontaneous Hall effect in a nonmagnetic Weyl–Kondo semimetal

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2013386118  

   Dzsaber, Sami ; Yan, Xinlin ; Taupin, Mathieu ; Eguchi, Gaku ; Prokofiev, Andrey ; Shiroka, Toni ; Blaha, Peter ; Rubel, Oleg ; Grefe, Sarah E. ; Lai, Hsin-Hua ; et al ( February 2021 , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Nontrivial topology in condensed-matter systems enriches quantum states of matter to go beyond either the classification into metals and insulators in terms of conventional band theory or that of symmetry-broken phases by Landau’s order parameter framework. So far, focus has been on weakly interacting systems, and little is known about the limit of strong electron correlations. Heavy fermion systems are a highly versatile platform to explore this regime. Here we report the discovery of a giant spontaneous Hall effect in the Kondo semimetal C e 3 B i 4 P d 3 that is noncentrosymmetric but preserves time-reversal symmetry. Wemore »attribute this finding to Weyl nodes—singularities of the Berry curvature—that emerge in the immediate vicinity of the Fermi level due to the Kondo interaction. We stress that this phenomenon is distinct from the previously detected anomalous Hall effect in materials with broken time-reversal symmetry; instead, it manifests an extreme topological response that requires a beyond-perturbation-theory description of the previously proposed nonlinear Hall effect. The large magnitude of the effect in even tiny electric and zero magnetic fields as well as its robust bulk nature may aid the exploitation in topological quantum devices.« less
4. Quantum liquid from strange frustration in the trimer magnet Ba4Ir3O10

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-020-0232-6  

   Cao, Gang ; Zheng, Hao ; Zhao, Hengdi ; Ni, Yifei ; Pocs, Christopher A. ; Zhang, Yu ; Ye, Feng ; Hoffmann, Christina ; Wang, Xiaoping ; Lee, Minhyea ; et al ( May 2020 , npj Quantum Materials)

   Quantum spin systems such as magnetic insulators usually show magnetic order, but such classical states can give way toquantum liquids with exotic entanglementthrough two known mechanisms of frustration: geometric frustration in lattices with triangle motifs, and spin-orbit-coupling frustration in the exactly solvable quantum liquid of Kitaev’s honeycomb lattice. Here we present the experimental observation of a new kind of frustrated quantum liquid arising in an unlikely place: the magnetic insulator Ba₄Ir₃O₁₀where Ir₃O₁₂trimers form an unfrustrated square lattice. The crystal structure shows no apparent spin chains. Experimentally we find a quantum liquid state persisting down to 0.2 K that is stabilizedmore »by strong antiferromagnetic interaction with Curie–Weiss temperature ranging from −766 to −169 K due to magnetic anisotropy. The anisotropy-averaged frustration parameter is 2000, seldom seen in iridates. Heat capacity and thermal conductivity are both linear at low temperatures, a familiar feature in metals but here in an insulator pointing to an exotic quantum liquid state; a mere 2% Sr substitution for Ba produces long-range order at 130 K and destroys the linear-T features. Although the Ir⁴⁺(5d⁵) ions in Ba₄Ir₃O₁₀appear to form Ir₃O₁₂trimers of face-sharing IrO₆octahedra, we propose that intra-trimer exchange is reduced and the lattice recombines into an array of coupled 1D chains with additional spins. An extreme limit of decoupled 1D chains can explain most but not all of the striking experimental observations, indicating that the inter-chain coupling plays an important role in the frustration mechanism leading to this quantum liquid.

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5. Strong and fragile topological Dirac semimetals with higher-order Fermi arcs

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14443-5  

   Wieder, Benjamin J. ; Wang, Zhijun ; Cano, Jennifer ; Dai, Xi ; Schoop, Leslie M. ; Bradlyn, Barry ; Bernevig, B. Andrei ( January 2020 , Nature Communications)

   Dirac and Weyl semimetals both exhibit arc-like surface states. However, whereas the surface Fermi arcs in Weyl semimetals are topological consequences of the Weyl points themselves, the surface Fermi arcs in Dirac semimetals are not directly related to the bulk Dirac points, raising the question of whether there exists a topological bulk-boundary correspondence for Dirac semimetals. In this work, we discover that strong and fragile topological Dirac semimetals exhibit one-dimensional (1D) higher-order hinge Fermi arcs (HOFAs) as universal, direct consequences of their bulk 3D Dirac points. To predict HOFAs coexisting with topological surface states in solid-state Dirac semimetals, wemore »introduce and layer a spinful model of ans–d-hybridized quadrupole insulator (QI). We develop a rigorous nested Jackiw–Rebbi formulation of QIs and HOFA states. Employing ab initio calculations, we demonstrate HOFAs in both the room- (α) and intermediate-temperature (α″) phases of Cd₃As₂, KMgBi, and rutile-structure ($$ \beta ^{\prime} $$${\beta }^{\prime }$-) PtO₂.

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