Nanoscale Magnetic Domains in Polycrystalline MnSn Films Imaged by a Scanning Single-Spin Magnetometer.

Noncollinear antiferromagnets with novel magnetic orders, vanishingly small net magnetization, and exotic spin related properties hold enormous promise for developing next-generation, transformative spintronic applications. A major ongoing research focus of this community is to explore, control, and harness unconventional magnetic phases of this emergent material system to deliver state-of-the-art functionalities for modern microelectronics. Here we report direct imaging of magnetic domains of polycrystalline MnSn films, a prototypical noncollinear antiferromagnet, using nitrogen-vacancy-based single-spin scanning microscopy. Nanoscale evolution of local stray field patterns of MnSn samples are systematically investigated in response to external driving forces, revealing the characteristic "heterogeneous" magnetic switching behaviors in polycrystalline textured MnSn films. Our results contribute to a comprehensive understanding of inhomogeneous magnetic orders of noncollinear antiferromagnets, highlighting the potential of nitrogen-vacancy centers to study microscopic spin properties of a broad range of emergent condensed matter systems.