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Title: Quantum anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic transition metal halides

Abstract

The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect is a novel topological spintronic phenomenon arising from inherent magnetization and spin-orbit coupling. Various theoretical and experimental efforts have been devoted in search of intrinsic QAH insulators. However, up to now, it has only been observed in Cr or V doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3 film in experiments with very low working temperature. Based on the successful synthesis of transition metal halides, we use first-principles calculations to predict that the RuI3 monolayer is an intrinsic ferromagnetic QAH insulator with a topologically nontrivial global band gap of 11 meV. This topologically nontrivial band gap at the Fermi level is due to its crystal symmetry, thus the QAH effect is robust. Its Curie temperature, estimated to be ~360K using Monte Carlo simulation, is above room temperature and higher than most two-dimensional ferromagnetic thin films. The inclusion of Hubbard U in the Ru-d electrons does not affect this result. Furthemore, we also discuss the manipulation of its exchange energy and nontrivial band gap by applying in-plane strain. Our work adds an experimentally feasible member to the QAH insulator family, which is expected to have broad applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [2];  [3]
  1. Nanjing Univ. of Science and Technology (China). Key Lab. of Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials; Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (United States)
  2. Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (United States)
  3. Nanjing Univ. of Science and Technology (China). Key Lab. of Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (United States); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities; USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1535838
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1338860
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-96ER45579; AC02-05CH11231; 11374160; 51522206; 11574151; 30915011203
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 95; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; Ferromagnetism; quantum anomalous Hall effect; spintronics; topological materials; density functional theory

Citation Formats

Huang, Chengxi, Zhou, Jian, Wu, Haiping, Deng, Kaiming, Jena, Puru, and Kan, Erjun. Quantum anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic transition metal halides. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevb.95.045113.
Huang, Chengxi, Zhou, Jian, Wu, Haiping, Deng, Kaiming, Jena, Puru, & Kan, Erjun. Quantum anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic transition metal halides. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.95.045113
Huang, Chengxi, Zhou, Jian, Wu, Haiping, Deng, Kaiming, Jena, Puru, and Kan, Erjun. Tue . "Quantum anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic transition metal halides". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.95.045113. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1535838.
@article{osti_1535838,
title = {Quantum anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic transition metal halides},
author = {Huang, Chengxi and Zhou, Jian and Wu, Haiping and Deng, Kaiming and Jena, Puru and Kan, Erjun},
abstractNote = {The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect is a novel topological spintronic phenomenon arising from inherent magnetization and spin-orbit coupling. Various theoretical and experimental efforts have been devoted in search of intrinsic QAH insulators. However, up to now, it has only been observed in Cr or V doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3 film in experiments with very low working temperature. Based on the successful synthesis of transition metal halides, we use first-principles calculations to predict that the RuI3 monolayer is an intrinsic ferromagnetic QAH insulator with a topologically nontrivial global band gap of 11 meV. This topologically nontrivial band gap at the Fermi level is due to its crystal symmetry, thus the QAH effect is robust. Its Curie temperature, estimated to be ~360K using Monte Carlo simulation, is above room temperature and higher than most two-dimensional ferromagnetic thin films. The inclusion of Hubbard U in the Ru-d electrons does not affect this result. Furthemore, we also discuss the manipulation of its exchange energy and nontrivial band gap by applying in-plane strain. Our work adds an experimentally feasible member to the QAH insulator family, which is expected to have broad applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevb.95.045113},
journal = {Physical Review B},
number = 4,
volume = 95,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Tue Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

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