Interlayer magnetoresistance due to chiral soliton lattice formation in hexagonal chiral magnet CrNb3S6

Abstract

We investigate the interlayer magnetoresistance (MR) along the chiral crystallographic axis in the hexagonal chiral magnet CrNb3S 6. In a region below the incommensurate-commensurate phase transition between the chiral soliton lattice and the forced ferromagnetic state, a negative MR is obtained in a wide range of temperature, while a small positive MR is found very close to the Curie temperature. Normalized data of the negative MR almost falls into a single curve and is well fitted by a theoretical equation of the soliton density, meaning that the origin of the MR is ascribed to the magnetic scattering of conduction electrons by a nonlinear, periodic, and countable array of magnetic soliton kinks. © 2013 American Physical Society