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Ground state magnetic structure of Mn3Sn

Jeppe Jon Cederholm1,2,3,*, Zhian Xu4,*, Yanfeng Guo4, Martin Ovesen5, Thomas Olsen5, Kristine M. L. Krighaar3, Chrystalla Knekna6,3, Jian Rui Soh7,8, Youngro Lee2 et al.

Navid Qureshi1, Jose Alberto Rodriguez Velamazan1, Eric Ressouche9, Andrew T. Boothroyd10, and Henrik Jacobsen11,3,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: henrik.jacobsen.fys@gmail.com
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 174437 – Published 26 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dh99-3xkn

Abstract

We use spherical neutron polarimetry to determine the ground state magnetic structure of Mn3Sn. We find that Mn3Sn adopts an inverse triangular structure with spins parallel to 〈100〉 (type III) rather than spins parallel to 〈110〉 (type IV). Density functional theory calculations reveal no energy difference between these two structures, suggesting that the selection is caused by subtle effects such as sixth-order anisotropy. Partial control of the magnetic domain population through a moderate magnetic field is key to distinguishing between the two models. We find that three of the six domains are approximately equally populated, while the others have negligible population. Upon entering the low temperature incommensurate phase, the domain structure is lost. The domains in this phase are decoupled from the magnetic field and can therefore not be controlled by any known method.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 174437– Published 26 May, 2026
  • Received 9 October 2025
  • Accepted 13 March 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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