Magnus Hall Effect in Two-Dimensional Materials

Abstract

The Magnus Hall effect (MHE) is a new type of linear-response Hall effect, recently proposed to appear in two-dimensional (2D) nonmagnetic systems at zero magnetic field in the ballistic limit. The MHE arises from a self-rotating Bloch electron moving under a gradient-electrostatic potential, analogous to the Magnus effect in the macrocosm. Unfortunately, the MHE is usually accompanied by a trivial transverse signal, which hinders its experimental observation. We systematically investigate the material realization and experimental measurement of the MHE, based on symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations. It is found that both the out-of-plane mirror and in-plane two-fold symmetries can neutralize the trivial transverse signal to generate clean MHE signals. We choose two representative 2D materials, monolayer MoS2, and bilayer WTe2, to study the quantitative dependency of MHE signals on the direction of the electric field. The results are qualitatively consistent with the symmetry analysis, and suggest that an observable MHE signal requires giant Berry curvatures. Our results provide detailed guidance for the future experimental exploration of MHE.