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Magnetic evolution, phase transitions, and electronic band structure of the ferrotoroidic candidate Ba6Cr2S10

Guoqiang Zhao1,2,3,*, Jiawen Li4,1,*, Jun Zhang2,*, Kenji M. Kojima5, Yipeng Cai3,5, Takashi U. Ito6, SungWon Yoon5,7, Xiancheng Wang2, Sadamichi Maekawa6,8 et al.

Gang Su1, Bo Gu1,†, Timothy Ziman1,9,‡, Changqing Jin2,§, and Yasutomo J. Uemura3,∥

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: gubo@ucas.ac.cn
  • ‡Contact author: ziman@ill.fr
  • §Contact author: jin@iphy.ac.cn
  • ∥Contact author: yu2@columbia.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 013331 – Published 26 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/h576-nnnz

Abstract

Ferrotoroidic materials, which break both time- and space-reversal symmetries to enhance magnetoelectric responses, are of great interest for applications. Ba6Cr2S10, a recently synthesized quasi-one-dimensional ferrotoroidic candidate, combines polarization, magnetization, and toroidal moment, yet its electronic band structure, magnetic evolution, and phase transitions remain incompletely understood to date. Here, we investigate Ba6Cr2S10, using electrical transport, direct current magnetization, alternating current susceptibility, specific heat, and muon spin rotation (μSR) measurements, along with various first-principles calculations. Electrical transport measurements and density functional theory confirm a narrow band gap (∼0.707eV, experimentally; ∼0.680eV, theoretically). μSR measurements reveal that static magnetism dominates down to 2 K, with an ordered volume fraction of ∼89% at this temperature. Two distinct transitions are identified: one around the Néel temperature [TN=(8±1)K] and another corresponding to a phase transition near 30 K, as consistently indicated by our complementary experimental techniques. The absence of dynamic critical behaviors and the lack of a λ-type specific heat anomaly are consistent with a first-order-like transition at TN. Based on various complementary experimental results and theoretical calculations, we propose a hypothesis that the ∼30K broad feature arises from the complex interplay between crystal structure distortion and magnetic coupling, which is potentially directly linked to ferrotoroidicity. As the first study integrating μSR with complementary experiments and first-principles calculations to explore ferrotoroidicity, this work provides key insights into the underlying physics of Ba6Cr2S10 and related compounds in this area.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 013331– Published 26 March, 2026
  • Received 9 August 2025
  • Accepted 9 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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