Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Spin Nematic Liquid Crystal and Scalar Spin Chirality in Tetragonal Lattice YbMnBi2

Yaofeng Xie1,2,*, Sijie Xu1,2,*, Yu Pan3,4,*, Taekoo Oh5,6,10,*, Tingjun Zhang1,2,1,11,*, Masaaki Matsuda7, Zhaoyu Liu1,2, Zehao Wang1,2, Yiheng Wang1,2 et al.

Siyu Pan1,2, Avishek Maity7, Sylwia Pawledzio7, Xiaoping Wang7, Songxue Chi7, Feng Ye7, Yiqing Hao7, Huibo Cao7, Barry L. Winn7, Melissa K. Graves-Brook7, Shuai Wu8, Fan Li8, Xiaoyuan Zhou8, Claudia Felser4, Naoto Nagaosa6,9,†, and Pengcheng Dai1,2,‡

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: nagaosa@riken.jp
  • ‡Contact author: pdai@rice.edu

Phys. Rev. X 16, 041001 – Published 1 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w1nt-6s12

Abstract

A spin nematic order, analogous to a nematic liquid crystal, characterizes the spontaneous breaking of spin-space rotational symmetry while preserving time-reversal (T) symmetry. On the other hand, the order parameter characterizing the T-symmetry breaking is the composite three-spin order, i.e., the scalar spin chirality (SSC) χijk=⟨Si·(Sj×Sk)⟩, where Si, Sj, Sk are spins at neighboring sites i, j, k, respectively, and nonzero SSC is known to induce anomalous Hall effect (AHE). Although a spin nematic phase has been suggested in the frustrated magnets and the square-lattice iridate, how a spin nematic phase might affect magneto-transport properties is unknown. Here we use polarized neutron scattering to show that tetragonal lattice AMnBi2 (A=Ca, Yb) is a strictly c-axis-aligned collinear antiferromagnet (C-type) with TN≈270 and 290 K. On cooling from 450 K to TN, low-energy spin excitations in YbMnBi2 spontaneously change from isotropic to anisotropic in spin space within the tetragonal plane, forming a dynamic spin nematic phase around 400 K due to heavy Yb-induced spin-orbit coupling, before gapping out below TN. Similar polarized neutron scattering measurements on CaMnBi2 reveal isotropic paramagnetic scattering without a spin nematic phase above TN. Under an in-plane external magnetic field, the Yb3+ moments may interact with the dynamic spin nematic phase to induce nonzero SSC, giving rise to AHE and anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) in YbMnBi2 that is absent in CaMnBi2 above TN. Theoretical analysis of Ginzburg-Landau theory based on the symmetry indicates that the coupling terms between the nematic order and SSC of 5 order in the spin operators are allowed under an external magnetic field B. This could explain the rapid increase of AHE as a function of B in YbMnBi2. Our results, therefore, provide compelling evidence for dynamic SSC-induced AHE and ANE in the paramagnetic phase of a compensated collinear antiferromagnet, opening a new avenue for the physics of composite orders of multiple spins for room-temperature spintronics without magnetic order.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Popular Summary

Article Text

References (84)

  1. W. Heisenberg, Zur Theorie des Ferromagnetismus, Z. Phys. 49, 619 (1928).
  2. A. T. Boothroyd, Principles of Neutron Scattering from Condensed Matter (Oxford University Press, New York, 2020), ISBN [Amazon][WorldCat].
  3. E. Pytte, Peierls instability in Heisenberg chains, Phys. Rev. B 10, 4637 (1974).
  4. M. Blume and Y. Y. Hsieh, Biquadratic exchange and quadrupolar ordering, J. Appl. Phys. 40, 1249 (1969).
  5. A. F. Andreev and I. A. Grishchuk, Spin nematics, J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 60, 267 (1984).
  6. S. A. Kivelson, E. Fradkin, and V. J. Emery, Electronic liquid-crystal phases of a doped Mott insulator, Nature (London) 393, 550 (1998).
  7. E. Fradkin, S. A. Kivelson, and J. M. Tranquada, Colloquium: Theory of intertwined orders in high temperature superconductors, Rev. Mod. Phys. 87, 457 (2015).
  8. P. Dai, Antiferromagnetic order and spin dynamics in iron-based superconductors, Rev. Mod. Phys. 87, 855 (2015).
  9. R. M. Fernandes, A. I. Coldea, H. Ding, I. R. Fisher, P. J. Hirschfeld, and G. Kotliar, Iron pnictides and chalcogenides: a new paradigm for superconductivity, Nature (London) 601, 35 (2022).
  10. A. Läuchli, J. C. Domenge, C. Lhuillier, P. Sindzingre, and M. Troyer, Two-step restoration of SU(2) symmetry in a frustrated ring-exchange magnet, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 137206 (2005).
  11. N. Shannon, T. Momoi, and P. Sindzingre, Nematic order in square lattice frustrated ferromagnets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 027213 (2006).
  12. S. Jiang, J. Romhányi, S. R. White, M. E. Zhitomirsky, and A. L. Chernyshev, Where is the quantum spin nematic?, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 116701 (2023).
  13. Y. Li, W. Wang, Y. Song, H. Man, X. Lu, F. Bourdarot et al., Spin excitation anisotropy in the paramagnetic tetragonal phase of BaFe2As2, Phys. Rev. B 96, 020404(R) (2017).
  14. M. Ma, P. Bourges, Y. Sidis, Y. Xu, S. Li, B. Hu, J. Li, F. Wang, and Y. Li, Prominent role of spin-orbit coupling in FeSe revealed by inelastic neutron scattering, Phys. Rev. X 7, 021025 (2017).
  15. J. Li, B. Lei, D. Zhao, L. P. Nie, D. W. Song, L. X. Zheng, S. J. Li, B. L. Kang, X. G. Luo, T. Wu, and X. H. Chen, Spin-orbital-intertwined nematic state in FeSe, Phys. Rev. X 10, 011034 (2020).
  16. H. Kim, J.-K. Kim, J. Kwon, J. Kim, H.-W. J. Kim, S. Ha et al., Quantum spin nematic phase in a square-lattice iridate, Nature (London) 625, 264 (2024).
  17. K. Y. Povarov, V. K. Bhartiya, Z. Yan, and A. Zheludev, Thermodynamics of a frustrated quantum magnet on a square lattice, Phys. Rev. B 99, 024413 (2019).
  18. Y. Kohama, H. Ishikawa, A. Matsuo, K. Kindo, N. Shannon, and Z. Hiroi, Possible observation of quantum spin-nematic phase in a frustrated magnet, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116, 10686 (2019).
  19. H. Kusunose, J.-i. Kishine, and H. M. Yamamoto, Emergence of chirality from electron spins, physical fields, and material-field composites, Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 260501 (2024).
  20. N. Nagaosa and Y. Tokura, Topological properties and dynamics of magnetic skyrmions, Nat. Nanotechnol. 8, 899 (2013).
  21. A. Fert, N. Reyren, and V. Cros, Magnetic skyrmions: advances in physics and potential applications, Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 17031 (2017).
  22. E. H. Hall, XVIII. On the “Rotational Coefficient” in nickel and cobalt, London, Edinburgh Dublin Phil. Mag. J. Sci. 12, 157 (1881).
  23. N. Nagaosa, J. Sinova, S. Onoda, A. H. MacDonald, and N. P. Ong, Anomalous Hall effect, Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 1539 (2010).
  24. A. N. Bogdanov and C. Panagopoulos, Physical foundations and basic properties of magnetic skyrmions, Nat. Rev. Phys. 2, 492 (2020).
  25. S. Nakatsuji, N. Kiyohara, and T. Higo, Large anomalous Hall effect in a non-collinear antiferromagnet at room temperature, Nature (London) 527, 212 (2015).
  26. F. D. M. Haldane, Berry curvature on the Fermi surface: Anomalous Hall effect as a topological Fermi-liquid property, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 206602 (2004).
  27. T. Liang, J. Lin, Q. Gibson, S. Kushwaha, M. Liu, W. Wang et al., Anomalous Hall effect in ZrTe5, Nat. Phys. 14, 451 (2018).
  28. N. P. Armitage, E. J. Mele, and A. Vishwanath, Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids, Rev. Mod. Phys. 90, 015001 (2018).
  29. M. Z. Hasan, G. Chang, I. Belopolski, G. Bian, S.-Y. Xu, and J.-X. Yin, Weyl Dirac and high-fold chiral fermions in topological quantum matter, Nat. Rev. Mater. 6, 784 (2021).
  30. T. Suzuki, R. Chisnell, A. Devarakonda, Y. T. Liu, W. Feng, D. Xiao et al., Large anomalous Hall effect in a half-Heusler antiferromagnet, Nat. Phys. 12, 1119 (2016).
  31. B. A. Bernevig, C. Felser, and H. Beidenkopf, Progress and prospects in magnetic topological materials, Nature (London) 603, 41 (2022).
  32. I. Belopolski, R. Watanabe, Y. Sato, R. Yoshimi, M. Kawamura, S. Nagahama et al., Synthesis of a semimetallic Weyl ferromagnet with point Fermi surface, Nature (London) 637, 1078 (2025).
  33. L. Šmejkal, J. Sinova, and T. Jungwirth, Emerging research landscape of altermagnetism, Phys. Rev. X 12, 040501 (2022).
  34. L. Šmejkal, A. H. MacDonald, J. Sinova, S. Nakatsuji, and T. Jungwirth, Anomalous Hall antiferromagnets, Nat. Rev. Mater. 7, 482 (2022).
  35. T. Oh and N. Nagaosa, Phonon thermal Hall effect in Mott insulators via skew scattering by the scalar spin chirality, Phys. Rev. X 15, 011036 (2025).
  36. A. Wang, I. Zaliznyak, W. Ren, L. Wu, D. Graf, V. O. Garlea, J. B. Warren, E. Bozin, Y. Zhu, and C. Petrovic, Magnetotransport study of Dirac fermions in YbMnBi2 antiferromagnet, Phys. Rev. B 94, 165161 (2016).
  37. E. Brechtel, G. Cordier, and H. Schäfer, Zur Darstellung und Struktur von CaMnBi2/On the Preparation and Crystal Structure of CaMnBi2, Z. Naturforsch. B, 35, 1 (1980).
  38. K. Wang, D. Graf, L. Wang, H. Lei, S. W. Tozer, and C. Petrovic, Two-dimensional Dirac fermions and quantum magnetoresistance in CaMnBi2, Phys. Rev. B 85, 041101(R) (2012).
  39. S.-Y. Yang, Y. Wang, B. R. Ortiz, D. Liu, J. Gayles, E. Derunova et al., Giant, unconventional anomalous Hall effect in the metallic frustrated magnet candidate, KV3Sb5, Sci. Adv. 6, eabb6003 (2020).
  40. E. Liu, Y. Sun, N. Kumar, L. Muechler, A. Sun, L. Jiao et al., Giant anomalous Hall effect in a ferromagnetic kagome-lattice semimetal, Nat. Phys. 14, 1125 (2018).
  41. L. Ye, M. Kang, J. Liu, F. von Cube, C. R. Wicker, T. Suzuki et al., Massive Dirac fermions in a ferromagnetic kagome metal, Nature (London) 555, 638 (2018).
  42. A. K. Nayak, J. E. Fischer, Y. Sun, B. Yan, J. Karel, A. C. Komarek et al., Large anomalous Hall effect driven by a nonvanishing Berry curvature in the noncolinear antiferromagnet Mn3Ge, Sci. Adv. 2, e1501870 (2016).
  43. M. L. Klemm, S. Siddique, Y.-C. Chang, S. Xu, Y. Xie, T. Legvold et al., Vacancy-induced suppression of charge density wave order and its impact on magnetic order in kagome antiferromagnet FeGe, Nat. Commun. 16, 3313 (2025).
  44. J.-R. Soh, H. Jacobsen, B. Ouladdiaf, A. Ivanov, A. Piovano, T. Tejsner, Z. Feng, H. Wang, H. Su, Y. Guo, Y. Shi, and A. T. Boothroyd, Magnetic structure and excitations of the topological semimetal YbMnBi2, Phys. Rev. B 100, 144431 (2019).
  45. A. Sapkota, L. Classen, M. B. Stone, A. T. Savici, V. O. Garlea, A. Wang, J. M. Tranquada, C. Petrovic, and I. A. Zaliznyak, Signatures of coupling between spin waves and Dirac fermions in YbMnBi2, Phys. Rev. B 101, 041111(R) (2020).
  46. I. A. Zaliznyak, A. T. Savici, V. O. Garlea, B. Winn, U. Filges, J. Schneeloch, J. M. Tranquada, G. Gu, A. Wang, and C. Petrovic, Polarized neutron scattering on HYSPEC: the HYbrid SPECtrometer at SNS, J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 862, 012030 (2017).
  47. Y. Pan, C. Le, B. He, S. J. Watzman, M. Yao, J. Gooth et al., Giant anomalous Nernst signal in the antiferromagnet YbMnBi2, Nat. Mater. 21, 203 (2022).
  48. X. Guo, X. Li, Z. Zhu, and K. Behnia, Onsager reciprocal relation between anomalous transverse coefficients of an anisotropic antiferromagnet, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 246302 (2023).
  49. C. Le, C. Felser, and Y. Sun, Design strong anomalous Hall effect via spin canting in antiferromagnetic nodal line materials, Phys. Rev. B 104, 125145 (2021).
  50. X.-S. Ni, C.-Q. Chen, D.-X. Yao, and Y. Hou, Origin of the type-II Weyl state in topological antiferromagnetic YbMnBi2, Phys. Rev. B 105, 134406 (2022).
  51. S. Borisenko, D. Evtushinsky, Q. Gibson, A. Yaresko, K. Koepernik, T. Kim et al., Time-reversal symmetry breaking type-II Weyl state in YbMnBi2, Nat. Commun. 10, 3424 (2019).
  52. Y. F. Guo, A. J. Princep, X. Zhang, P. Manuel, D. Khalyavin, I. I. Mazin, Y. G. Shi, and A. T. Boothroyd, Coupling of magnetic order to planar Bi electrons in the anisotropic Dirac metals A MnBi2 (A=Sr, Ca), Phys. Rev. B 90, 075120 (2014).
  53. M. C. Rahn, A. J. Princep, A. Piovano, J. Kulda, Y. F. Guo, Y. G. Shi, and A. T. Boothroyd, Spin dynamics in the antiferromagnetic phases of the Dirac metals AMnBi2 (A=Sr, Ca), Phys. Rev. B 95, 134405 (2017).
  54. A. Sapkota, N. Aryal, X. Hu, M. Matsuda, Y. Wu, G. Xu, J. M. Wilde, A. Kreyssig, P. C. Canfield, C. Petrovic, J. M. Tranquada, and I. A. Zaliznyak, Magnetism and Peierls distortion in Dirac semimetal CaMnBi2, arXiv:2511.03721.
  55. R. M. Moon, T. Riste, and W. C. Koehler, Polarization analysis of thermal-neutron scattering, Phys. Rev. 181, 920 (1969).
  56. P. Liu, M. L. Klemm, L. Tian, X. Lu, Y. Song, D. W. Tam et al., In-plane uniaxial pressure-induced out-of-plane antiferromagnetic moment and critical fluctuations in BaFe2As2, Nat. Commun. 11, 5728 (2020).
  57. C. Wang, R. Zhang, F. Wang, H. Luo, L. P. Regnault, P. Dai, and Y. Li, Longitudinal spin excitations and magnetic anisotropy in antiferromagnetically ordered BaFe2As2, Phys. Rev. X 3, 041036 (2013).
  58. S. Watanabe and K. Miyake, Roles of critical valence fluctuations in Ce- and Yb-based heavy fermion metals, J. Phys. Condens. Matter 23, 094217 (2011).
  59. M. Okawa, M. Matsunami, K. Ishizaka, R. Eguchi, M. Taguchi, A. Chainani, Y. Takata, M. Yabashi, K. Tamasaku, Y. Nishino, T. Ishikawa, K. Kuga, N. Horie, S. Nakatsuji, and S. Shin, Strong Valence Fluctuation in the quantum critical heavy fermion superconductor β−YbAlB4: A hard X-ray photoemission study, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 247201 (2010).
  60. S. Chatterjee, J. P. Ruf, H. I. Wei, K. D. Finkelstein, D. G. Schlom, and K. M. Shen, Lifshitz transition from valence fluctuations in YbAl3, Nat. Commun. 8, 852 (2017).
  61. C. L. Zhang, Y. Song, L. P. Regnault, Y. X. Su, M. Enderle, J. Kulda, G. Tan, Z. C. Sims, T. Egami, Q. Si, and P. Dai, Anisotropic neutron spin resonance in underdoped superconducting NaFe1−xCoxAs, Phys. Rev. B 90, 140502(R) (2014).
  62. S. D. Wilson, Z. Yamani, C. R. Rotundu, B. Freelon, P. N. Valdivia, B.-E. Courchesne, J. W. Lynn, S. Chi, T. Hong, and R. J. Birgeneau, Antiferromagnetic critical fluctuations in BaFe2As2, Phys. Rev. B 82, 144502 (2010).
  63. J.-R. Soh, S. M. Tobin, H. Su, I. Zivkovic, B. Ouladdiaf, A. Stunault, J. A. Rodriguez Velamazan, K. Beauvois, Y. Guo, and A. T. Boothroyd, Magnetic structure of the topological semimetal YbMnSb2, Phys. Rev. B 104, L161103 (2021).
  64. F. H. Yu, T. Wu, Z. Y. Wang, B. Lei, W. Z. Zhuo, J. J. Ying, and X. H. Chen, Concurrence of anomalous Hall effect and charge density wave in a superconducting topological kagome metal, Phys. Rev. B 104, L041103 (2021).
  65. M. Lee, Y. Onose, Y. Tokura, and N. P. Ong, Hidden constant in the anomalous Hall effect of high-purity magnet MnSi, Phys. Rev. B 75, 172403 (2007).
  66. D. L. Abernathy, M. B. Stone, M. J. Loguillo, M. S. Lucas, O. Delaire, X. Tang et al., Design and operation of the wide angular-range chopper spectrometer ARCS at the spallation neutron source, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 015114 (2012).
  67. K. Ohgushi, S. Murakami, and N. Nagaosa, Spin anisotropy and quantum Hall effect in the kagomé lattice: Chiral spin state based on a ferromagnet, Phys. Rev. B 62, R6065 (2000).
  68. R. Shindou and N. Nagaosa, Orbital Ferromagnetism and Anomalous Hall Effect in Antiferromagnets on the Distorted fcc Lattice, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 116801 (2001).
  69. H. Ishizuka and N. Nagaosa, Spin chirality induced skew scattering and anomalous Hall effect in chiral magnets, Sci. Adv. 4, eaap9962 (2018).
  70. K. K. Kolincio, M. Hirschberger, J. Masell, S. Gao, A. Kikkawa, Y. Taguchi et al., Large Hall and Nernst responses from thermally induced spin chirality in a spin-trimer ferromagnet, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 118, e2023588118 (2021).
  71. L. Elcoro, B. Bradlyn, Z. Wang, M. G. Vergniory, J. Cano, C. Felser et al., Double crystallographic groups and their representations on the Bilbao Crystallographic Server, J. Appl. Crystallogr. 50, 1457 (2017).
  72. Q. Wang, K. J. Neubauer, C. Duan, Q. Yin, S. Fujitsu, H. Hosono, F. Ye, R. Zhang, S. Chi, K. Krycka, H. Lei, and P. Dai, Field-induced topological Hall effect and double-fan spin structure with a c-axis component in the metallic kagome antiferromagnetic compound YMn6Sn6, Phys. Rev. B 103, 014416 (2021).
  73. N. J. Ghimire, R. L. Dally, L. Poudel, D. C. Jones, D. Michel, N. T. Magar et al., Competing magnetic phases and fluctuation-driven scalar spin chirality in the kagome metal YMn6Sn6, Sci. Adv. 6, eabe2680 (2020).
  74. K. K. Kolincio, M. Hirschberger, J. Masell, T. H. Arima, N. Nagaosa, and Y. Tokura, Kagome Lattice Promotes Chiral Spin Fluctuations, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 136701 (2023).
  75. S. Roychowdhury, K. Samanta, S. Singh, W. Schnelle, Y. Zhang, J. Noky et al., Enhancement of the anomalous Hall effect by distorting the Kagome lattice in an antiferromagnetic material, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 121, e2401970121 (2024).
  76. T. Kurumaji, S. Fang, L. Ye, S. Kitou, and J. G. Checkelsky, Metamagnetic multiband Hall effect in Ising antiferromagnet ErGa2, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 121, e2318411121 (2024).
  77. W. Yao, S. Liu, H. Kikuchi, H. Ishikawa, Ø. S. Fjellvåg, D. W. Tam et al., Anomalous electrical transport in the kagome magnet YbFe6Ge6, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 186501 (2025).
  78. K. Tang, Y. Yang, J. Shen, M. Shi, N. Zhang, H. Li et al., Unconventional anomalous Hall effect and large anomalous Nernst effect in antiferromagnet SmMnBi2, Commun. Mater. 5, 89 (2024).
  79. M. B. Stone, J. L. Niedziela, D. L. Abernathy, L. DeBeer-Schmitt, G. Ehlers, O. Garlea et al., A comparison of four direct geometry time-of-flight spectrometers at the Spallation Neutron Source, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 045113 (2014).
  80. L. Coates, H. B. Cao, B. C. Chakoumakos, M. D. Frontzek, C. Hoffmann, A. Y. Kovalevsky et al., A suite-level review of the neutron single-crystal diffraction instruments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 89, 092802 (2018).
  81. J. Zikovsky, P. F. Peterson, X. P. Wang, M. Frost, and C. Hoffmann, CrystalPlan: an experiment-planning tool for crystallography, J. Appl. Crystallogr. 44, 418 (2011).
  82. A. J. Schultz, M. R. V. Jørgensen, X. Wang, R. L. Mikkelson, D. J. Mikkelson, V. E. Lynch et al., Integration of neutron time-of-flight single-crystal Bragg peaks in reciprocal space, J. Appl. Crystallogr. 47, 915 (2014).
  83. V. Petříček, L. Palatinus, J. Plášil, and M. Dušek, JANA2020—a new version of the crystallographic computing system, Z. Kristallogr. 238, 271 (2023).
  84. Y. Ohno, XPS studies of the intermediate valence state of Yb in (YbS)1.25CrS2, J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom. 165, 1 (2008).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation