Topological Hall effect and Berry phase in magnetic nanostructures

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Aug 27;93(9):096806. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.096806. Epub 2004 Aug 27.

Abstract

We discuss the anomalous Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas subject to a spatially varying magnetization. This topological Hall effect does not require any spin-orbit coupling and arises solely from Berry phase acquired by an electron moving in a smoothly varying magnetization. We propose an experiment with a structure containing 2D electrons or holes of diluted magnetic semiconductor subject to the stray field of a lattice of magnetic nanocylinders. The striking behavior predicted for such a system (of which all relevant parameters are well known) allows one to observe unambiguously the topological Hall effect and to distinguish it from other mechanisms.