Electronic scattering off a magnetic hopfion

Journal Article · 02 August 2021 · Physical Review. B

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.104.075102 · OSTI ID:1853517

Pershoguba, Sergey S. ^[1]; Andreoli, Domenico ^[2]; Zang, Jiadong ^[2]

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1. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States); OSTI
2. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)

We study scattering of itinerant electrons off a magnetic hopfion in a three-dimensional metallic magnet described by a magnetization vector S(r). A hopfion is a confined topological soliton of S(r) characterized by an emergent magnetic field Bγ(r)≡ε_αβγS∙(∇_αS×∇_βS)/4≠0 with vanishing average value [B(r)]=0. We evaluate the scattering amplitude in the opposite limits of large and small hopfion radius R using the eikonal and Born approximations, respectively. In both limits, we find that the scattering cross section contains a skew-scattering component giving rise to the Hall effect within a hopfion plane. That conclusion contests the popular notion that the Hall effect in noncollinear magnetic structures necessarily implies [B(r)]≠0. In the limit of small hopfion radius pR<<1, we expand the Born series in powers of momentum p and identify different expansion terms corresponding to the hopfion anisotropy, toroidal moment, and skew scattering.

• Research Organization: Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0020221
• OSTI ID: 1853517
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Journal Name: Physical Review. B Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 104; ISSN 2469-9950
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English