Crossover from 2D Ferromagnetic Insulator to Wide Band Gap Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator in Ultrathin MnBi2Te4Show others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: ACS Nano, ISSN 1936-0851, E-ISSN 1936-086X, Vol. 15, no 8, p. 13444-13452Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Intrinsic magnetic topological insulators offer low disorder and large magnetic band gaps for robust magnetic topological phases operating at higher temperatures. By controlling the layer thickness, emergent phenomena such as the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect and axion insulator phases have been realized. These observations occur at temperatures significantly lower than the Neel temperature of bulk MnBi2Te4, and measurement of the magnetic energy gap at the Dirac point in ultrathin MnBi2Te4 has yet to be achieved. Critical to achieving the promise of this system is a direct measurement of the layer-dependent energy gap and verification of a temperature-dependent topological phase transition from a large band gap QAH insulator to a gapless TI paramagnetic phase. Here we utilize temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study epitaxial ultrathin MnBi2Te4. We directly observe a layer-dependent crossover from a 2D ferromagnetic insulator with a band gap greater than 780 meV in one septuple layer (1 SL) to a QAH insulator with a large energy gap (>70 meV) at 8 K in 3 and 5 SL MnBi2Te4. The QAH gap is confirmed to be magnetic in origin, as it becomes gapless with increasing temperature above 8 K.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Chemical Society (ACS) , 2021. Vol. 15, no 8, p. 13444-13452
Keywords [en]
magnetic topological insulator, thin film, MnBi2Te4, quantum anomalous Hall insulator, ferromagnetic insulator, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
National Category
Condensed Matter Physics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-302693DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c03936ISI: 000693105500078PubMedID: 34387086Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85113958698OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-302693DiVA, id: diva2:1598439
Note
QC 20210929
2021-09-292021-09-292022-06-25Bibliographically approved