Realization of interlayer ferromagnetic interaction in MnSb2Te4 toward the magnetic Weyl semimetal state

Taito Murakami; Yusuke Nambu; Takashi Koretsune; Gu Xiangyu; Takafumi Yamamoto; Craig M Brown; Hiroshi Kageyama

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.100.195103

Realization of interlayer ferromagnetic interaction in MnSb₂Te₄ toward the magnetic Weyl semimetal state

Phys Rev B. 2019:100:10.1103/PhysRevB.100.195103. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.100.195103.

Authors

Taito Murakami¹, Yusuke Nambu², Takashi Koretsune³, Gu Xiangyu¹, Takafumi Yamamoto¹, Craig M Brown⁴, Hiroshi Kageyama^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan.
² Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan.
³ Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8578, Japan.
⁴ Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.
⁵ CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan.

Abstract

Magnetic properties of MnSb₂Te₄ were examined through magnetic susceptibility, specific-heat, and neutron-diffraction measurements. As opposed to isostructural MnBi₂Te₄ with the antiferromagnetic ground state, MnSb₂Te₄ develops a spontaneous magnetization below 25 K. From our first-principles calculations on the material in a ferromagnetic state, the state could be interpreted as a type-II Weyl semimetal state with broken time-reversal symmetry. Detailed structural refinements using x-ray-diffraction and neutron-diffraction data reveal the presence of site mixing between Mn and Sb sites, leading to the ferrimagnetic ground state. With theoretical calculations, we found that the presence of site mixing plays an important role for the interlayer Mn-Mn ferromagnetic interactions.

Grants and funding

9999-NIST/ImNIST/Intramural NIST DOC/United States