Surface-symmetry-driven phenomena in magnetoelectric Cr2O3

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) Cr$_2$O$_3$ is a unique collinear magnetoelectric material at room temperature. The bulk properties stemming from its magnetic symmetry render chromia of high interest for fundamentals and applications [1]. Features of the chromia surface remain much less explored. Here, we consider nominally compensated surfaces ($m$~and $a$~planes) of Cr$_2$O$_3$ [2]. We show that they provide a sizeable Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya interaction (DMI) determined by the surface magnetic symmetry point group and quantify it to be about 1\,mJ/m$^2$ by means of \textit{ab initio} and micromagnetic approaches. The DMI leads to the development of nonzero surface magnetization $\vec{M}$ whose sign is uniquely determined by the AFM state. The $m$ and $a$ planes of Cr$_2$O$_3$ behave as the canted ferrimagnet and canted 4-sublattice antiferromagnet, respectively. The coupling of $\vec{M}$ to the direction of the N\'{e}el vector is shown by magnetotransport measurements.

[1] P. Makushko et al., Nat. Comm. 13, 6745 (2022). [2] O.V. Pylypovskyi, S. F. Weber et al., ArXiv:2310.13438 (2023).