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Title: Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator to Anderson Insulator Quantum Phase Transition and its Scaling Behavior

Abstract

Fundamental insight into the nature of the quantum phase transition from a superconductor to an insulator in two dimensions, or from one plateau to the next or to an insulator in quantum Hall effect, has been revealed through the study of its scaling behavior. Here, we report on the experimental observation of a quantum phase transition from a quantum-anomalous-Hall (QAH) insulator to an Anderson insulator in a magnetic topological insulator by tuning the chemical potential. Our experiment demonstrates the existence of scaling behavior from which we extract the critical exponent for this quantum phase transition. Furthermore, we expect that our work will motivate much further investigation of many properties of quantum phase transition in this new context.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [2]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); The Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  2. The Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  3. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
  4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1489117
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1324496
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0005042
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 117; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; quantum anomalous Hall effect; Anderson insulator

Citation Formats

Chang, Cui -Zu, Zhao, Weiwei, Li, Jian, Jain, J. K., Liu, Chaoxing, Moodera, Jagadeesh S., and Chan, Moses H. W. Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator to Anderson Insulator Quantum Phase Transition and its Scaling Behavior. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.126802.
Chang, Cui -Zu, Zhao, Weiwei, Li, Jian, Jain, J. K., Liu, Chaoxing, Moodera, Jagadeesh S., & Chan, Moses H. W. Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator to Anderson Insulator Quantum Phase Transition and its Scaling Behavior. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.126802
Chang, Cui -Zu, Zhao, Weiwei, Li, Jian, Jain, J. K., Liu, Chaoxing, Moodera, Jagadeesh S., and Chan, Moses H. W. Wed . "Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator to Anderson Insulator Quantum Phase Transition and its Scaling Behavior". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.126802. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1489117.
@article{osti_1489117,
title = {Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator to Anderson Insulator Quantum Phase Transition and its Scaling Behavior},
author = {Chang, Cui -Zu and Zhao, Weiwei and Li, Jian and Jain, J. K. and Liu, Chaoxing and Moodera, Jagadeesh S. and Chan, Moses H. W.},
abstractNote = {Fundamental insight into the nature of the quantum phase transition from a superconductor to an insulator in two dimensions, or from one plateau to the next or to an insulator in quantum Hall effect, has been revealed through the study of its scaling behavior. Here, we report on the experimental observation of a quantum phase transition from a quantum-anomalous-Hall (QAH) insulator to an Anderson insulator in a magnetic topological insulator by tuning the chemical potential. Our experiment demonstrates the existence of scaling behavior from which we extract the critical exponent for this quantum phase transition. Furthermore, we expect that our work will motivate much further investigation of many properties of quantum phase transition in this new context.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.126802},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 12,
volume = 117,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

Journal Article:

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 47 works
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: (color online) Chemical potential dependence of topological quantum phase transition in magnetic topological insulator films. (a) A schematic diagram depicting the QAH to Anderson insulator quantum phase transition. For a smoothly varying disorder, three regions can be identified as a function of the chemical potential: the QAH phase;more » the ‘metal’ phase; and the mixed region with coexisting QAH and metal phases. Further addition of short range disorder turns the metallic regions into an Anderson insulator. (b, c) magnetic field μ0H dependence of longitudinal resistance ρxx and Hall resistance ρyx at gate bias Vg =+120V (b) and Vg=-200V (c).« less

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.