Broken inversion symmetry in van der Waals topological ferromagnetic metal iron germanium telluride

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhang, Kai-Xuan, Ju, Hwiin, Kim, Hyuncheol, Cui, Jingyuan, Keum, Jihoon, Park, Je-Geun, Lee, Jong Seok
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917886820352000
author Zhang, Kai-Xuan
Ju, Hwiin
Kim, Hyuncheol
Cui, Jingyuan
Keum, Jihoon
Park, Je-Geun
Lee, Jong Seok
author_facet Zhang, Kai-Xuan
Ju, Hwiin
Kim, Hyuncheol
Cui, Jingyuan
Keum, Jihoon
Park, Je-Geun
Lee, Jong Seok
contents Inversion symmetry breaking is critical for many quantum effects and fundamental for spin-orbit torque, which is crucial for next-generation spintronics. Recently, a novel type of gigantic intrinsic spin-orbit torque has been established in the topological van-der-Waals (vdW) magnet iron germanium telluride. However, it remains a puzzle because no clear evidence exists for interlayer inversion symmetry breaking. Here, we report the definitive evidence of broken inversion symmetry in iron germanium telluride directly measured by the second harmonic generation (SHG) technique. Our data show that the crystal symmetry reduces from centrosymmetric P63/mmc to noncentrosymmetric polar P3m1 space group, giving the three-fold SHG pattern with dominant out-of-plane polarization. Additionally, the SHG response evolves from an isotropic pattern to a sharp three-fold symmetry upon increasing Fe deficiency, mainly due to the transition from random defects to ordered Fe vacancies. Such SHG response is robust against temperature, ensuring unaltered crystalline symmetries above and below the ferromagnetic transition temperature. These findings add crucial new information to our understanding of this interesting vdW metal, iron germanium telluride: band topology, intrinsic spin-orbit torque and topological vdW polar metal states.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_14384
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Broken inversion symmetry in van der Waals topological ferromagnetic metal iron germanium telluride
Zhang, Kai-Xuan
Ju, Hwiin
Kim, Hyuncheol
Cui, Jingyuan
Keum, Jihoon
Park, Je-Geun
Lee, Jong Seok
Materials Science
Applied Physics
Optics
Quantum Physics
Inversion symmetry breaking is critical for many quantum effects and fundamental for spin-orbit torque, which is crucial for next-generation spintronics. Recently, a novel type of gigantic intrinsic spin-orbit torque has been established in the topological van-der-Waals (vdW) magnet iron germanium telluride. However, it remains a puzzle because no clear evidence exists for interlayer inversion symmetry breaking. Here, we report the definitive evidence of broken inversion symmetry in iron germanium telluride directly measured by the second harmonic generation (SHG) technique. Our data show that the crystal symmetry reduces from centrosymmetric P63/mmc to noncentrosymmetric polar P3m1 space group, giving the three-fold SHG pattern with dominant out-of-plane polarization. Additionally, the SHG response evolves from an isotropic pattern to a sharp three-fold symmetry upon increasing Fe deficiency, mainly due to the transition from random defects to ordered Fe vacancies. Such SHG response is robust against temperature, ensuring unaltered crystalline symmetries above and below the ferromagnetic transition temperature. These findings add crucial new information to our understanding of this interesting vdW metal, iron germanium telluride: band topology, intrinsic spin-orbit torque and topological vdW polar metal states.
title Broken inversion symmetry in van der Waals topological ferromagnetic metal iron germanium telluride
topic Materials Science
Applied Physics
Optics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.14384