Understanding the Anomalous Hall effect in Co$_{1/3}$NbS$_{2}$ from crystal and magnetic structures

Abstract

A large anomalous Hall effect (AHE) has recently been observed in the intercalated transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) Co$_{1/3}$NbS$_{2}$ below a known magnetic phase transition at $T_N$ = 29 K. The spins in this material are widely believed to order in a highly symmetric collinear antiferromagnetic configuration, causing extensive debate about how reports of an AHE can be reconciled with such a state. In this article, we address this controversy by presenting new neutron diffraction data on single crystals of Co$_{1/3}$NbS$_{2}$ and an analysis that implies that moments in this material order into a non-collinear configuration, but one that maintains the same refelction symmetries as the collinear phase. We present new transport and magneto-optic Kerr measurements which show that AHE signatures persist below $T_N$ to temperatures as low as $T$ = 5 K and firmly associate them with the long-range antiferromagnetic order. Finally, we show that these AHE signatures can be quantitatively reproduced by density functional theory (DFT) calculations based on the lattice and spin state determined with neutron diffraction. These combined findings establishes the veracity of the 'crystal Hall effect' picture, which shows how such effects can emerge from the shape of magnetic orbitals in compounds containing chiral lattice symmetry regardless of the symmetry of the ordered spin configuration. These results illuminate a new path for the discovery of anomalous Hall materials and motivate a targeted study of the transport properties of intercalated TMDCs and other compounds containing antiferromagnetic order and chiral lattice symmetry.