Scanning tunneling microscopy study of room-temperature functional behavior of intrinsic magnetic topological insulatorsShow others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: Physica. B, Condensed matter, ISSN 0921-4526, E-ISSN 1873-2135, Vol. 717, article id 417614Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
We present a scanning tunneling microscopy study of room-temperature topological surface states (TSS) on Bi-terminated MnBi2Te4. We found that Bi-termination has a larger exchange gap than Te-termination and a higher surface magnetic ordering temperature, making it a promising system for exploring axion electrodynamics. After compensating local surface charge carriers with an electric field of the tip, we observed nontrivial current plateaus and hysteresis loops on tunnel current-voltage characteristics, which we attributed to the compressibility phase transition of TSS and induction of axion insulator quantum dot (QD). Tunneling data allowed to determine the ratio of magnetic and electric fields in QD and estimate the Chern number of a current vortex as C∼10, which suggests the formation of collective rotational resonance. We found that magnetic defects inside QD can suppress rotational resonance, as manifested either in a halt of vortex rotation or the development of Schrödinger-cat-like superpositions of rotating and non-rotating states.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier BV , 2025. Vol. 717, article id 417614
Keywords [en]
Axion electrodynamics, Magnetic topological insulator, Quantum dots, Scanning tunneling microscopy, Schrödinger's cat states, Surface magnetism
National Category
Condensed Matter Physics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-371294DOI: 10.1016/j.physb.2025.417614ISI: 001600618900002Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105016697979OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-371294DiVA, id: diva2:2004643
Note
QC 20260128
2025-10-082025-10-082026-01-28Bibliographically approved