Intrinsic magnetic topological insulator phases in the Sb doped MnBi2Te4 bulks and thin flakes

Bo Chen; Fucong Fei; Dongqin Zhang; Bo Zhang; Wanling Liu; Shuai Zhang; Pengdong Wang; Boyuan Wei; Yong Zhang; Zewen Zuo; Jingwen Guo; Qianqian Liu; Zilu Wang; Xuchuan Wu; Junyu Zong; Xuedong Xie; Wang Chen; Zhe Sun; Shancai Wang; Yi Zhang; Minhao Zhang; Xuefeng Wang; Fengqi Song; Haijun Zhang; Dawei Shen; Baigeng Wang

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12485-y

Intrinsic magnetic topological insulator phases in the Sb doped MnBi₂Te₄ bulks and thin flakes

Nat Commun. 2019 Oct 2;10(1):4469. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12485-y.

Authors

Bo Chen^{1

2}, Fucong Fei^{3

4}, Dongqin Zhang¹, Bo Zhang⁵, Wanling Liu^{6

7

8}, Shuai Zhang^{1

2}, Pengdong Wang⁵, Boyuan Wei^{1

2}, Yong Zhang^{1

2}, Zewen Zuo^{1

2}, Jingwen Guo^{1

2}, Qianqian Liu^{1

2}, Zilu Wang⁹, Xuchuan Wu⁹, Junyu Zong¹, Xuedong Xie¹, Wang Chen¹, Zhe Sun⁵, Shancai Wang⁹, Yi Zhang¹, Minhao Zhang^{1

2}, Xuefeng Wang^{2

10}, Fengqi Song^{11

12}, Haijun Zhang¹³, Dawei Shen^{14

15}, Baigeng Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, and College of Physics, Nanjing University, 210093, Nanjing, China.
² Atomic Manufacture Institute (AMI), 211805, Nanjing, China.
³ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, and College of Physics, Nanjing University, 210093, Nanjing, China. [email protected].
⁴ Atomic Manufacture Institute (AMI), 211805, Nanjing, China. [email protected].
⁵ National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, 230029, Hefei, China.
⁶ Division of Photon Science and Condensed Matter Physics, School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, 200031, Shanghai, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200050, Shanghai, China.
⁸ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China.
⁹ Department of Physics and Beijing Key Laboratory of Opto-electronic Functional Materials & Micro-nano Devices, Renmin University of China, 100872, Beijing, China.
¹⁰ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, and School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, 210093, Nanjing, China.
¹¹ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, and College of Physics, Nanjing University, 210093, Nanjing, China. [email protected].
¹² Atomic Manufacture Institute (AMI), 211805, Nanjing, China. [email protected].
¹³ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, and College of Physics, Nanjing University, 210093, Nanjing, China. [email protected].
¹⁴ State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200050, Shanghai, China. [email protected].
¹⁵ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China. [email protected].

Abstract

Magnetic topological insulators (MTIs) offer a combination of topologically nontrivial characteristics and magnetic order and show promise in terms of potentially interesting physical phenomena such as the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect and topological axion insulating states. However, the understanding of their properties and potential applications have been limited due to a lack of suitable candidates for MTIs. Here, we grow two-dimensional single crystals of Mn(Sb_xBi_(1-x))₂Te₄ bulk and exfoliate them into thin flakes in order to search for intrinsic MTIs. We perform angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, low-temperature transport measurements, and first-principles calculations to investigate the band structure, transport properties, and magnetism of this family of materials, as well as the evolution of their topological properties. We find that there exists an optimized MTI zone in the Mn(Sb_xBi_(1-x))₂Te₄ phase diagram, which could possibly host a high-temperature QAH phase, offering a promising avenue for new device applications.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't