Noncollinear magnetism by design in lanthanide intermetallics

Materials with noncollinear and noncoplanar magnetism promise faster, denser, and more efficient data storage.^1,2 Of particular recent interest are metallic noncollinear antiferromagnets that can have ferroic signatures of magnetism, allowing for easier electrical reading and writing of data – and combine those with low net magnetic moments, making the memory faster and more retentive.³ Few noncollinear antiferromagnets are known to have strong electrical signatures of the magnetic order, e.g., in the Hall effect. We need to find new candidates – and to do that more effectively, we need to develop material design and selection strategies.

Here, we will discuss a design strategy that allowed us to find complex noncollinear magnetism in the Ln_nSn_2n+1 family of lanthanide (Ln)–tin intermetallics, which combine strong Hall effect signatures of noncollinear orders with high carrier mobilities owing to topologically protected states.⁴ We will discuss structural features that lead to the complex magnetism, as well as potential extensions of the strategy to higher ordering temperatures.

References:

1. A. Fert, V. Cros, and J. Sampaio, “Skyrmions on the track”, Nature Nanotechnology 8, 152–156 (2013).

2. Y. Tokura and N. Kanazawa, “Magnetic Skyrmion Materials”, Chemical Reviews 121, 2857–2897 (2021).

3. B. H. Rimmler, B. Pal, and S. S. P. Parkin, “Non-collinear antiferromagnetic spintronics”, Nature Reviews Materials 10, 109–127 (2025).

4. G. Skorupskii, F. Orlandi, I. Robredo, M. Jovanovic, R. Yamada, F. Katmer, M. G. Vergniory, P. Manuel, M. Hirschberger, and L. M. Schoop, “Designing giant Hall response in layered topological semimetals”, Nature Communications 15, 10112 (2024).