In-plane hexagonal antiferromagnet in the Cu-Mn-As system Cu0.82Mn1.18As

Abstract

We report the single-crystal growth and characterization of a hexagonal phase Cu0.82Mn1.18As, in the Cu-Mn-As system. This compound contains the same square-pyramidal MnAs5 units as the tetragonal and orthorhombic polymorphs of CuMnAs. Calorimetry, magnetometry, and neutron diffraction measurements reveal antiferromagnetic ordering at 270 K. The magnetic structure consists of a triangular arrangement of spins in the ab plane. Hexagonal Cu0.82Mn1.18As shows resistivity that varies only weakly from 5 to 300 K, and is many times higher than tetragonal CuMnAs, indicative of a strongly scattering metal. First-principles calculations confirm the metallic band structure with a small density of states at the Fermi energy. The neutron-refined magnetic ground state is close to the computationally determined minimum energy configuration. This compound should serve as a clear control when disentangling the effects of current-driven Néel switching of metallic antiferromagnets since it exhibits in-plane spins but the magnetic ordering does not break degeneracy along the a and b directions, unlike tetragonal CuMnAs.