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The role of spin fluctuations near magnetic phase transitions is crucial for generating various exotic phenomena, including anomalies in the extraordinary Hall effect, excess spin-current generation through the spin-Hall effect (SHE), and enhanced spin-pumping, amongst others. In this study, we experimentally investigate the temperature dependence of spin-orbit torques (SOTs) generated by Mn3Ni0.35Cu0.65N (MNCN), a member of the noncollinear antiferromagnetic family that exhibits unconventional magnetotransport properties. Our work uncovers a strong and nontrivial temperature dependence of SOTs, peaking near the N\'eel temperature of MNCN, which cannot be explained by conventional intrinsic and extrinsic scattering mechanisms of the SHE. Notably, we measure a maximum SOT efficiency of 30%, which is substantially larger than that of commonly studied nonmagnetic materials such as Pt. Theoretical calculations confirm a negligible SHE and a strong orbital Hall effect that can explain the observed SOTs. We propose a previously unidentified mechanism wherein fluctuating antiferromagnetic moments trigger the generation of substantial orbital currents near the N\'eel temperature due to the emergence of scalar spin chirality. Our findings present an approach for enhancing SOTs, which holds promise for magnetic memory applications by leveraging antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations to amplify both orbital and spin currents.

Cu$_3$TeO$_6$, a three-dimensional antiferromagnet forming a unique spin-web lattice of spin-1/2 Cu2+ ions below the Neel temperature T$_N$ = 62 K, has recently been found to exhibit topological Dirac or nodal magnon dispersion. In this study, we report the discovery of the linear magnetoelectric (ME) effects in Cu$_3$TeO$_6$ below TN. Our pyroelectric current measurements at a constant magnetic field (H) reveal a linear increase of electric polarization (P) with H for both P // H and P $\perp$ H configurations; a maximum P // [110] = 20 $\mu$C/m$^2$ is obtained at u0H // [1-10] = 14 T, corresponding to a linear ME coefficient 1.8 ps/m. Magnetic point group analysis and Monte-Carlo simulations confirm that finite linear ME coefficients are allowed in the off-diagonal and diagonal ME tensor components, consistent with the magnetic point group of $\bar{3}'$. As the parity-time symmetry can be broken in the presence of H or electric field E in the linear ME materials, we envisage that Cu$_3$TeO$_6$ should exhibit a H- or E-induced transformation in the topological magnon dispersion from a Dirac point/nodal line type into two Weyl point types.

Two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures are an attractive platform for studying exchange bias due to their defect free and atomically flat interfaces. Chromium thiophosphate (CrPS4), an antiferromagnetic material, possesses uncompensated magnetic spins in a single layer, rendering it a promising candidate for exploring exchange bias phenomena. Recent findings have highlighted that naturally oxidized vdW ferromagnetic Fe3GeTe2 exhibits exchange bias, attributed to the antiferromagnetic coupling of its ultrathin surface oxide layer (O-FGT) with the underlying unoxidized Fe3GeTe2. Anomalous Hall measurements are employed to scrutinize the exchange bias within the CrPS4/(O-FGT)/Fe3GeTe2 heterostructure. This analysis takes into account the contributions from both the perfectly uncompensated interfacial CrPS4 layer and the interfacial oxide layer. Intriguingly, a distinct and non-monotonic exchange bias trend is observed as a function of temperature below 140 K. The occurrence of exchange bias induced by a 'pre-set field' implies that the prevailing phase in the polycrystalline surface oxide is ferrimagnetic Fe3O4. Moreover, the exchange bias induced by the ferrimagnetic Fe3O4 is significantly modulated by the presence of the van der Waals antiferromagnetic CrPS4 layer, forming a heterostructure, along with additional iron oxide phases within the oxide layer. These findings underscore the intricate and complex nature of exchange bias in van der Waals heterostructures, highlighting their potential for tailored manipulation and control.

Magnetic skyrmions, topologically-stabilized spin textures that emerge in magnetic systems, have garnered considerable interest due to a variety of electromagnetic responses that are governed by the topology. The topology that creates a microscopic gyrotropic force also causes detrimental effects, such as the skyrmion Hall effect, which is a well-studied phenomenon highlighting the influence of topology on the deterministic dynamics and drift motion. Furthermore, the gyrotropic force is anticipated to have a substantial impact on stochastic diffusive motion; however, the predicted repercussions have yet to be demonstrated, even qualitatively. Here we demonstrate enhanced thermally-activated diffusive motion of skyrmions in a specifically designed synthetic antiferromagnet. Suppressing the effective gyrotropic force by tuning the angular momentum compensation leads to a more than 10 times enhanced diffusion coefficient compared to that of ferromagnetic skyrmions. Consequently, our findings not only demonstrate the gyro-force dependence of the diffusion coefficient but also enable ultimately energy-efficient unconventional stochastic computing.

The role of the crystal lattice, temperature and magnetic field for the spin structure formation in the 2D van der Waals magnet Fe5GeTe2 is a key open question. Using Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, we experimentally observe topological spin structures up to room temperature in the metastable pre-cooling and stable post-cooling phase of Fe5GeTe2. Over wide temperature and field ranges, skyrmionic magnetic bubbles form without preferred chirality, which is indicative of a centrosymmetric crystal structure. In the pre-cooling phase, these bubbles are observable even without the application of an external field, while in the post-cooling phase, a transformation from bubble domains to stripe domains is seen. To understand the magnetic order in Fe5GeTe2 we compare macroscopic magnetometry characterization results with microscopic density functional theory calculation. Our results show that even up to room temperature, topological spin structures can be stabilized in centrosymmetric van der Waals magnets., Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures

The recent emergence of magnetic van der Waals materials allows for the investigation of current induced magnetization manipulation in two dimensional materials. Uniquely, Fe3GeTe2 has a crystalline structure that allows for the presence of bulk spin-orbit torques (SOTs), that we quantify in a Fe3GeTe2 flake. From the symmetry of the measured torques, we identify the current induced effective fields using harmonic analysis and find dominant bulk SOTs, which arise from the symmetry in the crystal structure. Our results show that Fe3GeTe2 uniquely can exhibit bulk SOTs in addition to the conventional interfacial SOTs enabling magnetization manipulation even in thick single layers without the need for complex multilayer engineering., Comment: 19 pages 4 figures

We report gapless quantum spin liquid behavior in the layered triangular Sr$_{3}$CuSb$_{2}$O$_{9}$ (SCSO) system. X-ray diffraction shows superlattice reflections associated with atomic site ordering into triangular Cu planes well-separated by Sb planes. Muon spin relaxation ($\mu$SR) measurements show that the $S = \frac{1}{2}$ moments at the magnetically active Cu sites remain dynamic down to 65 mK in spite of a large antiferromagnetic exchange scale evidenced by a large Curie-Weiss temperature $\theta_{\mathrm{cw}} \simeq $ -143 K as extracted from the bulk susceptibility. Specific heat measurements also show no sign of long-range order down to 0.35 K. The magnetic specific heat ($\mathit{C}$$_{\mathrm{m}}$) below 5 K reveals a $\mathit{C}$$_{\mathrm{m}}$ $=$ $\gamma T$ + $\alpha T$$^{2}$ behavior. The significant $T$$^{2}$ contribution to the magnetic specific heat invites a phenomenology in terms of the so-called Dirac spinon excitations with a linear dispersion. From the low-$T$ specific heat data, we estimate the dominant exchange scale to be $\sim $ 36 K using a Dirac spin liquid ansatz which is not far from the values inferred from microscopic density functional theory calculations ($\sim $ 45 K) as well as high-temperature susceptibility analysis ($\sim$ 70 K). The linear specific heat coefficient is about 18 mJ/mol-K$^2$ which is somewhat larger than for typical Fermi liquids., Comment: 16 pages, 21 figures, including supplementary material. A $S = \frac{1}{2}$ Dirac spin liquid scenario has been put forward to explain the field-dependent specific heat data. Comments are welcome

Incommensurate (IC) charge-order (CO) and spin density wave (SDW) order in electron doped SrMn1-xWxO3-{\delta} (x= 0.08 to 0.1875) have been studied using neutron diffraction.The study highlights the drastic effect of electron doping on the emergence of magnetic ground states which were not revealed in manganites before. With increasing (x) the crystal structure changes from simple tetragonal (P4/mmm) to an IC-CO modulated structure with super space-group P2/m({\alpha}\b{eta}0)00 having ab-planer ferro order of 3dx2-y2 orbitals in a compressed tetragonal (c 0.1, a different C-type AFM order with propagation vector k = (1/2,0,1/2), coexists with an incommensurate SDW order with k = (0.12, 0.38, 1/2).For compositions with 0.1625 < x < 0.175, while the structural features of CDW and orbital-order remain qualitatively the same, the magnetic interaction gets modified and results another SDW phase with single incommensurate propagation vector k = (0.07, 0.43, 1/2). A detail magnetic and structural phase-diagram, as a function of W substitution for SrMn1-xWxO3 (0.08 < x < 0.4) is presented.

We present the synthesis and a detailed investigation of structural and magnetic properties of polycrystalline Ba(TiO)Cu$_{4}$(PO$_{4}$)$_{4}$ (BTCPO) via x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and $^{31}$P Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) measurements. BTCPO has a 2D layered structure with interlinked Cu$_{4}$O$_{12}$ tetramer units. A broad maximum is observed around 16.5 K in our magnetization data accompanied by a sharp anomaly around $T$ = 9.5 K in the heat capacity. An anomaly at $T$ = 9.5 K is also found in the temperature dependence of the $^{31}$P NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$. A power law behavior for the heat capacity as well as for the $^{31}$P $1/T_1$ below the ordering temperature could be obtained. The $^{31}$P NMR lineshape is asymmetric and the NMR shift tracks the bulk spin-susceptibility. We estimated the isotropic and axial components of the hyperfine coupling tensor to be as the $A^{iso}_{hf} \backsimeq 6794$ $\rm{Oe/\mu_{B}}$ and $A^{ax}_{hf} \backsimeq 818$ $\rm{Oe/\mu_{B}}$, respectively., Comment: 8 pages, 3 tables, 13 figures

We report the structural and magnetic properties of a quantum magnet PbCuTeO5. The triclinic structure of PbCuTeO5 comprises of alternating layers (ab-planes), in which one layer is composed of S = 1/2 dimer chains and another layer is composed of S = 1/2 trimer chains formed by corner-shared CuO4 units. Magnetic susceptibility data show a Curie-Weiss behavior with an antiferromagnetic Curie-Weiss temperature (Theta_CW) of -165 K. At low temperature, both the heat capacity Cp(T) and susceptibility data show an anomaly at Tc = 6 K with a weak ferromagnetic (WFM) moment suggesting the appearance of long-range order. The magnetization vs. field M(H) data at 2 K also provide evidence for WFM behavior. Magnetic frustration with a frustration parameter f = Theta_CW/Tc of about 27 is observed. Magnetic specific heat data suggest the presence of a large entropy in the paramagnetic region, well above Tc, suggesting the presence of short-range spin correlations. The observed results might originate from the frustrated network of S = 1/2 distorted checkerboard lattice formed due to the coupling of the spin chains via TeO6 octahedral units in the ab-plane., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, submitted in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

We have investigated the complex dielectric and impedance properties of magnetoelectric compound Fe2TiO5 (FTO) as a function of temperature (T) and frequency (f) to understand the grain (G) and grain boundary (Gb) contributions to its dielectric response. The temperature and frequency dependent dielectric permittivity data shows a sharp increase in permittivity above 200K accompanied with a frequency dependent peak in loss. At T less than 175K, only G contribution dominates even at lower frequency (nearly 100Hz), but for T greater than 175K, the Gb contribution starts appearing at low frequency. The value of critical frequency distinguishing these two contributions increases with increasing temperature. The observed non-Debye dielectric relaxation follows thermally activated process and is attributed to polaron hopping. Further the frequency dependence of ac conductivity follows the Jonscher power-law. The temperature dependency of critical exponent s shows that the correlated barrier hopping model is appropriate to define the conductivity mechanism of FTO in the studied temperature regime., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, Accepted in Journal of alloys and compounds

The temperature (T) dependent x-ray diffraction (XRD) and resistivity measurements of La0.175Pr0.45Ca0.375MnO3 (LPCMO) have been performed down to 2K to understand the structural and transport properties. From room temperature down to 220K, LPCMO exists in orthorhombic phase with Pnma structure and at 220K, it transforms to charge ordered (CO) monoclinic phase with P21/m structure and remains as it is down to 2K. The CO phase is evident from the occurrence of weak but well defined superlattice peaks in the XRD pattern. This structural transformation is of first order in nature as evident from the phase coexistence across the transition region. These results thus clearly illustrate that LPCMO undergoes a first order structural phase transition from charge disordered orthorhombic phase to CO monoclinic phase at 220K, consistent with temperature dependent resistivity results. Our structural analysis of T dependent XRD data using Rietveld refinement infers that below 220K, LPCMO forms commensurate CO monoclinic P21/m structure with four times structural modulation., Comment: 2 pages, 3 figure, accepted in AIP conference procceding

The low-temperature and high-magnetic field (2K, 8T) powder x-ray diffraction (LTHM-XRD) measurements have been carried out at different temperatures (T) and magnetic fields (H) to investigate the structural phase diagram for phase separated La0.175Pr0.45Ca0.375MnO3 (LPCMO) manganite. The antiferromagnetic (AFM) P21/m insulating phase undergoes field induced transformation to ferromagnetic (FM) Pnma metallic ground state below its AFM ordering temperature (220K) in zero-field cooling (ZFC) from room temperature. At temperature greater than 25K, the field induced FM Pnma phase remained irreversible even after complete removal of field. However, for T ( 39-65K), the field induced transformation is partially reversible. This behaviour has been attributed to magnetic field induced devitrification of the glass-like arrested AFM P21/m phase to FM Pnma equilibrium phase. The devitrified FM Pnma phase starts transforming back to AFM P21/m phase around ~39K on heating the sample under zero field. Our results corroborate the evidence of strong magneto-structural coupling in this system. An H-T phase-diagram has been constructed based on LTHM-XTD data, which resembles with the one made from magnetic measurements. These results have been explained on the basis of kinetic arrest of first order phase transition and field induced devitrification of the arrested phase., Comment: 16pages, 6 figures, ON page no 5, line number 16 has been modified as, "The FM Pnma phase transforms back to AFM P21/m phase on heating"

The current progress of materials science regarding multifunctional materials (MFM) has put forward the challenges to understand the microscopic origin of their properties. Most of such MFMs have magneto-elastic correlations. To investigate the underlying mechanism, it is therefore essential to investigate the structural properties in the presence of magnetic field. Keeping this in view low temperature and high magnetic field (LTHM) powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), a unique state-of-art facility in India has been developed at CSR Indore. This setup works on symmetric Bragg Brentano geometry using a parallel incident x-ray beam from a rotating anode source working at 17 kW. Using this one can do structural studies at non-ambient conditions i.e. at low- temperatures (2-300 K) and high magnetic field (+8 to -8 T). The available scattering angle ranges from 5{\deg} to 115{\deg} 2{\theta} with a resolution better than 0.1{\deg}. The proper functioning of the setup has been checked using Si sample. The effect of magnetic field on the structural properties has been demonstrated on Pr0.5Sr0.5MnO3 sample. Clear effect of field induced phase transition has been observed. Moreover, the effect of zero field cooled and field cooled conditions is also observed., Comment: DAE-SSPS-2014, AIP Conf.Proc. (2015) (accepted), 4 Pages, 2 figures

Low as well as high-temperature electron and x-ray diffraction studies have been carried out on a rare-earth free B-site disordered electron-doped manganite SrMn0.875.Mo0.125O3-{\delta} in the temperature range of 83K to 637K. These studies reveal the occurrence of strong charge ordering (CO) at room temperature in a pseudo tetragonally distorted perovskite phase with space-group Pmmm. Non integral modulation vector of 8.95 times along [-110] indicates a charge density wave type modulation. The CO phase with basic perovskite structure Pmmm transforms to a charge disorder cubic phase through a first order phase transition at 355K. Supporting temperature dependent measurements of resistance and magnetization show a metal-insulator and antiferromagnetic transitions across 355K with a wide hysterisis ranging from 150K to 365K. The occurrence of pseudo tetragonality of the basic perovskite lattice with c/a < 1 together with charge-ordered regions with 2-dimensional modulation have been analyzed as the coexistence of two CO phases with 3dx2/3dy2 type and 3dx2-y2 type orbital ordering., Comment: Accepted in Materials Research Express -IOPscience, 29 pages, 10 figures

We report the existence of ferromagnetic correlations (FMC) in paramagnetic (PM) matrix of cubic La1-xSrxMnO3-{\delta} (x = 0.80, 0.85) well above its coupled structural, magnetic and electronic phase transitions. The dc-magnetization vs temperature [M(T)] behaviour under different magnetic fields (from 100 Oe to 70 kOe) shows the presence of short range magnetic correlations up to (TFMC ~) 365 K, far above the antiferromagnetic ordering temperatures (TN =) 260 K and 238 K for x=0.80 and 0.85, respectively. More importantly the observed short-range FMC survive even up to 70 kOe, which indicates their robust nature. The temperature region between TN to TFMC is dominated by the presence of correlated ferromagnetic (FM) entities within the PM matrix and stabilized due to A-site chemical disorder. Our results further illustrate that for the studied compositions, the oxygen off-stoichiometry does not have any significant effect on the nature and strength of these FM entities; however, FM interactions increase in the oxygen deficient samples. These compositions are the unique examples, where the presence of FMC is observed in an undistorted basic cubic perovskite lattice well above TN and therefore are novel to understand the physics behind the colossal magneto-resistance effect., Comment: Accepted in Physica status solidi (b), 19 Page, 5 figures

Recently, Kumar et al. [APL 104, 262905 (2014)] have reported quantum paraelectric glass state in SrCu3Ti4O12. Their analysis is based on the misconception about the effect of quantum fluctuations on paraelectric properties. There are very serious issues with their analysis of permittivity vs T data where authors tried to prove the presence of quantum paraelectricity in SrCu3Ti4O12. In the comment we have clearly affirm that the analysis presented by the authors do not prove the presence of quantum paraelectric behavior and there by the quantum paraelectric glass state. The quantum fluctuations and the frequency dependence of permittivity, showing relaxor like behavior cannot exist simultaneously., Comment: Accepted in Applied Physics Letters, 5 pages, 1 figures

The compound, Fe2TiO5 (FTO)is a well-known uniaxial anisotropic spin-glass insulator with two successive glassy freezing temperatures i.e. transverse (TTF= 9K) and longitudinal (TLF= 55 K). In this article, we present the results of measurements of complex dielectric behavior, electric polarization as a function of temperature (T), in addition to characterization by magnetic susceptibility and heat-capacity, primarily to explore magnetoelectric (ME) coupling and multiglass properties in uniaxial anisotropic spin cluster-glass FTO. The existence of two magnetic transitions is reflected in the isothermal magnetodielectric (MD) behavior in the sense that the sign of MD is different in the T regime TTTF.The data in addition provide evidence for the glassy dynamics of electric-dipoles; interestingly, this occurs at much higher temperature (~100-150 K) than TLF with high remnant polarization at 10 K( 4000 micro C/m2) attributable to short-range magnetic correlations, thereby offering a route to attain ME coupling above 77 K., Comment: 17 Pages, 4 figures

The synthesis and structural studies on the polycrystalline La1-xBixCrO3 (x =0, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.35) have been done using XRD and TEM. The results of the Reitveld refinement of XRD data shows that these compounds crystallize in an orthorhombic structure with Pnma space group. With increasing Bi content, the unit cell volume and lattice parameters undergo non monotonous changes within the tolerance factor from 0.84092 to 0.84072. This has been attributed to the anisotropy induced by lone pair of Bi3+, which may distorted the lattice., Comment: 2 pages, 4 figures

Magnetic and dielectric properties on a polycrystalline La0.7Bi0.3CrO3 have been investigated. A canted antiferromagnetic (CAF) phase transition giving weak ferromagnetism at TN = 230K has been observed. M-H at 10K shows non-saturating trend, even up to 5T, confirms the CAF ordering. The permittivity ({\epsilon}')-vs-temperature (T) variation shows a relaxor ferroelectric (RFE) nature accompanied by a pronounced anomaly in {\epsilon}'-T at TN. The anomaly in {\epsilon}'-T at TN indicates the presence of magentoelectric (ME) coupling in this material., Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures

Structural phase transition studies employing low-temperature transmission electron microscopy, and low-temperature x-ray diffraction have been carried out on nearly stoichiometric ({\delta}=0.01) and off-stoichiometric ({\delta}=0.12) versions of La0.2Sr0.8MnO3-{\delta} manganite. The nearly stoichiometric La0.2Sr0.8MnO3-{\delta} under goes a cubic to Jahn-Teller distorted C-type antiferromagnetic tetragonal phase-transition at 260K. For off-stoichiometric La0.2Sr0.8MnO3-{\delta} the Jahn-Teller distorted tetragonal phase transition gets totally suppressed and the basic perovskite lattice remains cubic but shows a charge ordered phase. Stabilization of charge ordered phase in the absence of cooperative Jahn-Teller distortion has been attributed to coulomb-repulsion and Hunds coupling energy. The off-stoichiometric sample shows characteristically different physical properties. This has been realized through transport, magnetic and calorimetric measurements. A smooth crossover from variable range hopping transport to power-law dependence of resistivity ({\rho}) on temperature (T) i.e. {\rho}=C.T-{\alpha} has been realized. This has been attributed to multistep inelastic tunneling through channels involving localized states around oxygen vacancy sites., Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures

Effect of oxygen off-stoichiometry on the structural and magnetic properties of La0.15Sr0.85MnO3-d (d = 0.02,0.14) has been studied employing low-temperature x-ray diffraction, calorimetry, electrical-transport and magnetization. The nearly stoichiometric composition under goesfirst order phase-transition from cubic to tetragonal P4/mmm at 238 K accompanied by magnetic and electrical phase-transitions. On the contrary the off-stoichiometric composition does not show any transition and remains cubic Pm-3m down to 80 K. Offstoichiometry induced oxygen-vacancy seems to suppress the cooperative JT distortion and possibly stabilize a G-type antiferromagnetic phase with localized cantedspins. Thus we demonstrate that controlling oxygen stoichiometry is a way of structure/property engineering in electron-doped-like manganites., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

We report here the occurrence of glass-like kinetic-arrest of first-order phase transition of R-3c to Pbnm in a supercooled LaxMnO3\pm{\delta} (X= 1 & 0.9 and {\delta}>0.125) below its insulator-metal transition employing low-temperature transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction. No transformation was observed even in a ~12 hrs aged LaxMnO3\pm{\delta} at 98K until unless it was triggered insitu using e-beam irradiation in TEM. A systematic triggering at different temperatures has revealed the occurrence of kinetic-arrest situation similar to stable glass-formers. This has been attributed to the suppression of Johan-Teller distortion by double exchange. PACS number(, Comment: Submitted to Physical Review B