Field-induced topological Hall effect and butterfly-shaped magnetoresistance in the centrosymmetric antiferromagnet EuAuAs

Abstract

The coupling between magnetic and electronic degrees of freedom gives rise to a variety of intriguing transport phenomena. Among them, the topological Hall effect, originating from the real-space Berry phase associated with nontrivial magnetic textures, has attracted considerable attention. Here, we systematically investigate the magnetic and transport properties of antiferromagnet EuAuAs. Magnetic characterizations reveal antiferromagnetic transition at 5.7 K and 6.3 K for $H\parallel ab$ and $H\parallel c$, accompanied by metamagnetic transition and small hysteresis for $H\parallel ab$. Electrical transport measurements reveal a pronounced topological Hall effct in the antiferromagnetic state with $H\parallel ab$ and $I\parallel c$, which may be attributed to finite scalar spin chirality. Furthermore, the magnetoresistance exhibits butterfly-shaped hysteresis and strong angular dependence, which are likely associated with spin-dependent electron scattering, magnetic-domain evolution, and domain-wall pinning. Our results suggest that field-induced spin textures play an important role in the magnetotransport properties and provide insights into the interplay between magnetic textures and electronic transport in centrosymmetric antiferromagnets.

9 pages, 4 figures