Temperature-invariant magneto-optical Kerr effect in a noncollinear antiferromagnet

Noncollinear antiferromagnets exhibit anomalous Hall and magneto-optical Kerr effects driven by Berry curvature despite negligible net magnetization, promising ultrafast spintronic applications.

While both effects are theoretically expected to reveal the intrinsic Berry curvature that serves as a spintronic memory bit, their quantitative interpretation is complicated by additional temperature-dependent contributions superimposed on the magnetic order parameter: extrinsic skew scattering in dc Hall transport, and optical-resonance effects in visible-wavelength Kerr measurements.

Here we perform polar Kerr measurements at the infrared telecommunication wavelength (1550 nm) on epitaxial, stoichiometric Mn3NiN single crystal films, revealing for the first time a spontaneous Kerr signal that remains stable within a few percent over a 200 K range below the Néel temperature.

This temperature-invariant intrinsic Kerr response contrasts with the strongly temperature-dependent anomalous Hall effect in the same sample dominated by extrinsic skew scattering.

Our findings establish infrared Kerr effect as a robust, local probe of Berry curvature in noncollinear antiferromagnets, enabling quantitative characterization and advancing antiferromagnetic spintronic technologies.