Giant Hall effect in a highly conductive frustrated magnet GdCu

Karube, Kosuke*; Onuki, Yoshichika*; Nakajima, Taro*; Chen, H.-Y.*; Ishizuka, Hiroaki*; Kimata, Motoi*; Ohara, Takashi   ; Munakata, Koji*; Nomoto, Takuya*; Arita, Ryotaro*; Arima, Takahisa*; Tokura, Yoshinori*; Taguchi, Yasujiro*

The Hall effect is one of the most fundamental but elusive phenomena in condensed matter physics due to the rich variety of underlying mechanisms. Here we report an exceptionally large Hall effect in a frustrated magnet, GdCu, with high conductivity. The Hall conductivity at the base temperature shows abrupt sign changes under magnetic fields. Our systematic measurements indicate that the unusual Hall effect can be understood in terms of spin-splitting-induced emergence/disappearance of Fermi pockets as well as skew scattering from spin-chiral cluster fluctuations in a field-polarized state. The present study demonstrates a complex interplay among magnetization, spin-dependent electronic structure, and spin fluctuations in producing the giant Hall effect in highly conductive frustrated magnets with a distorted triangular lattice.