Magnetic anisotropy and topological Hall effect in the trigonal chromium tellurides Cr5Te8

Nontrivial spin configurations tend to bring about novel transport properties in magnetic materials. We report the magnetic anisotropy and topological Hall effect in trigonal Cr5Te8 single crystals. Below the magnetic transition temperature, the spins are canted ferromagnetic aligned along c axis with antiferromagnetic components in ab plane. This peculiar magnetic structure gives rise to the anisotropic anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in Cr5Te8. When the current flows along the ab plane, Cr5Te8 exhibits a conventional AHE depicted by skew scattering mechanism. On the other hand, the topological Hall effect appears with current along c axis, which stems from the noncoplanar spin configuration with scalar spin chirality during the spin flop process.