Carnegie Mellon researchers demonstrate in-plane anomalous Hall effect in TaIrTe4

September 3, 2026 at 05:17 PM2 min

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Carnegie Mellon University physicists have demonstrated an in-plane anomalous Hall effect in the layered material tantalum iridium telluride (TaIrTe4), overturning a century-old assumption that the Hall effect requires a perpendicular magnetic field. The findings, published in Nature Materials, show a Hall response tied to magnetization can occur in more than one direction. The discovery could enable novel planar magnetic sensors and vector magnetometry.

Key Facts

The in-plane anomalous Hall effect was demonstrated in tantalum iridium telluride (TaIrTe4), a material with the required crystal symmetry.
The findings were published in Nature Materials.
The Hall effect was first discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879.
The research team included postdoctoral researchers I-Hsuan Kao and Ravi Kumar.

The Discovery

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon's Department of Physics, working in the Lab for Investigating Quantum Materials, Interfaces and Devices (LIQUID), demonstrated a different form of the Hall effect. Simranjeet Singh, an associate professor of physics, stated that for a long time people thought the Hall effect only worked when the magnetic field was applied perpendicular to the plane of the film, but the team showed a response also occurs when the field is in-plane. The result shows that a Hall response tied to magnetization can occur in more than one direction, giving physicists a new way to investigate multidimensional magnetic and topological structures. Singh added that beyond fundamental importance, the discovery can enable novel planar device architectures and sensor types, such as vector magnetometry, by measuring out-of-plane and in-plane anomalous Hall effect signals in the same device.

Experimental Approach

Scientists had previously predicted an in-plane anomalous Hall effect in theory, but no experiment had successfully demonstrated it before this work. Singh explained that it is very difficult to make a magnetic material with the right symmetry, and the team found a material with the right symmetry and made it magnetic. Creating the nanometer-sized devices required expertise in two-dimensional quantum materials, and Singh worked with Jyoti Katoch, an associate professor of physics who specializes in fabricating devices from such materials. The research team began with tantalum iridium telluride (TaIrTe4), whose crystal structure has the symmetry needed to support a multidimensional Hall effect.