Magnetic structures and correlated physical properties in antiperovskites

Compounds with perovskite structures have become one of the focuses in both materials science and condensed matter physics because of their fascinating physical properties and potential functionalities correlated to magnetic structures. However, the understanding of the intriguing physical properties is still at an exploratory stage. Herein, owing to the magnetic frustration prompted by Mn₆N or Mn₆C octahedra, the abounding magnetic structures of antiperovskites, including collinear antiferromagnetic, collinear ferromagnetic, collinear ferrimagnetic, non-collinear magnetic, and non-coplanar magnetic spin configurations, are systematically introduced through the updated coverage. In addition, owing to the “spin-lattice-charge” coupling of antiperovskites, a large number of physical properties, such as anomalous thermal expansion, giant magnetoresistance, anomalous Hall effect, piezomagnetic/baromagnetic effects, magnetocaloric effect, barocaloric effect, etc., are summarized by combining the discussions of the determined magnetic structures. This review aims to clarify the current research progress in this field, focusing on the relationship between the magnetic structures and the correlated physical properties, and provides the conclusion and outlook on further performance optimization and mechanism exploration in antiperovskites.