Nonreciprocal electronic transport in a helimagnetic semimetal α-EuP₃

Noncentrosymmetric systems can host unusual phenomena such as nonreciprocal electronic transport. Recent interest lies in centrosymmetric helimagnets[1,2], where the magnetic order is solely responsible for breaking the inversion symmetry. Here, we report nonreciprocal electronic transport in the helimagnetic phase of α-EuP₃, a layered semimetal closely related to black phosphorus. α-EuP₃ is a centrosymmetric crystal, whose helimagnetic ordering at low temperatures gives rise to a finite chirality in the system. Furthermore, it has been recently noted to exhibit a subtle coupling between magnetism and electronic structure, leading to unusual magnetotransport such as a large anomalous Hall effect caused by a topological transition[3].

The observed nonreciprocal resistivity signal shows good agreement with the symmetry conditions, exhibiting a finite response in the chiral helimagnetic phase and vanishing otherwise. However, the signal demonstrates a peculiar magnetic field dependence, including a sign change and a sharp peak. In this presentation, we will discuss the driving factors behind this unique nonreciprocal response in α-EuP₃ based on experimental and calculation results.

[1] N. Jiang et al., Nat. Commun. 11, 1601 (2020).

[2] H. Masuda et al., arXiv: 2205.13112 (2022).

[3] A. H. Mayo et al., PRX 12, 011033 (2022).