Axion insulator state in hundred-nanometer-thick magnetic topological insulator sandwich heterostructures

Zhuo, Deyi; Yan, Zi-Jie; Sun, Zi-Ting; Zhou, Ling-Jie; Zhao, Yi-Fan; Zhang, Ruoxi; Mei, Ruobing; Yi, Hemian; Wang, Ke; Chan, Moses H. W.; Liu, Chao-Xing; Law, K. T.; Chang, Cui-Zu

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-43474-x

Axion insulator state in hundred-nanometer-thick magnetic topological insulator sandwich heterostructures

Journal Article · Tue Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43474-x· OSTI ID:2217414

; ; ; ; ; ; Mei, Ruobing; Yi, Hemian; Wang, Ke; ; ; ;

Abstract

An axion insulator is a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI), in which the bulk maintains the time-reversal symmetry or inversion symmetry but the surface states are gapped by surface magnetization. The axion insulator state has been observed in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-grown magnetically doped TI sandwiches and exfoliated intrinsic magnetic TI MnBi ₂ Te ₄ flakes with an even number layer. All these samples have a thickness of ~ 10 nm, near the 2D-to-3D boundary. The coupling between the top and bottom surface states in thin samples may hinder the observation of quantized topological magnetoelectric response. Here, we employ MBE to synthesize magnetic TI sandwich heterostructures and find that the axion insulator state persists in a 3D sample with a thickness of ~ 106 nm. Our transport results show that the axion insulator state starts to emerge when the thickness of the middle undoped TI layer is greater than ~ 3 nm. The 3D hundred-nanometer-thick axion insulator provides a promising platform for the exploration of the topological magnetoelectric effect and other emergent magnetic topological states, such as the high-order TI phase.

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Research Organization:: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0023113

OSTI ID:: 2217414

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2472126

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 14; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

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