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Title: Metal-to-insulator switching in quantum anomalous Hall states

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9474· OSTI ID:1239297
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  3. Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
  4. Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan

After decades of searching for the dissipationless transport in the absence of any external magnetic field, quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) was recently achieved in magnetic topological insulator films. However, the universal phase diagram of QAHE and its relation with quantum Hall effect (QHE) remain to be investigated. Here, we report the experimental observation of the giant longitudinal resistance peak and zero Hall conductance plateau at the coercive field in the six quintuple-layer (Cr0.12Bi0.26Sb0.62)2Te3 film, and demonstrate the metal-to-insulator switching between two opposite QAHE plateau states up to 0.3 K. Moreover, the universal QAHE phase diagram is confirmed through the angle-dependent measurements. Our results address that the quantum phase transitions in both QAHE and QHE regimes are in the same universality class, yet the microscopic details are different. Additionally, the realization of the QAHE insulating state unveils new ways to explore quantum phase-related physics and applications.

Research Organization:
Stanford Univ., CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1239297
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1270629
Report Number(s):
SLAC-PUB-16656; ncomms9474
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 6; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 110 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Spectroscopic fingerprint of chiral Majorana modes at the edge of a quantum anomalous Hall insulator/superconductor heterostructure journal December 2019
Quantum‐Hall to Insulator Transition in Ultra‐Low‐Carrier‐Density Topological Insulator Films and a Hidden Phase of the Zeroth Landau Level journal June 2019
Large discrete jumps observed in the transition between Chern states in a ferromagnetic Topological Insulator text January 2016
Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations in the anomalous Hall conductivity of Chern insulators journal August 2018
Above 400 K Robust Perpendicular Ferromagnetic Phase in a Topological Insulator text January 2017
Conductance fluctuations and disorder induced ν = 0 quantum Hall plateau in topological insulator nanowires journal January 2017
Chern insulator in a ferromagnetic two-dimensional electron system with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling text January 2019
Scaling of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect as an Indicator of Axion Electrodynamics journal June 2017
Highly-ordered wide bandgap materials for quantized anomalous Hall and magnetoelectric effects journal April 2017
Topological states of condensed matter journal October 2017
Zero-field edge plasmons in a magnetic topological insulator journal November 2017
Quantum transport of two-species Dirac fermions in dual-gated three-dimensional topological insulators text January 2015
Absence of evidence for chiral Majorana modes in quantum anomalous Hall-superconductor devices journal January 2020
Chern insulator in a ferromagnetic two-dimensional electron system with Dresselhaus spin–orbit coupling journal October 2019
Direct evidence of ferromagnetism in a quantum anomalous Hall system text January 2018
Nonlinear terahertz emission in the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi 2 Te 3 by terahertz emission spectroscopy journal November 2019
Two-dimensional Weyl half-semimetal and tunable quantum anomalous Hall effect journal August 2019
Large discrete jumps observed in the transition between Chern states in a ferromagnetic topological insulator journal July 2016
Role of hybridization and magnetic effects in massive Dirac cones: Magnetic topological heterostructures with controlled film thickness journal February 2019
Magnetic modulation doping in topological insulators toward higher-temperature quantum anomalous Hall effect journal November 2015
Visualization of superparamagnetic dynamics in magnetic topological insulators journal November 2015
Proximity-induced magnetism and an anomalous Hall effect in Bi 2 Se 3 /LaCoO 3 : a topological insulator/ferromagnetic insulator thin film heterostructure journal January 2018
A magnetic heterostructure of topological insulators as a candidate for an axion insulator journal February 2017
Above 400-K robust perpendicular ferromagnetic phase in a topological insulator journal June 2017
Quantum anomalous Hall effect in time-reversal-symmetry breaking topological insulators journal March 2016
Quantum transport of two-species Dirac fermions in dual-gated three-dimensional topological insulators journal May 2016
Chiral Majorana fermion modes in a quantum anomalous Hall insulator–superconductor structure journal July 2017
Intrinsic quantized anomalous Hall effect in a moiré heterostructure journal December 2019
Realization of the Axion Insulator State in Quantum Anomalous Hall Sandwich Heterostructures text January 2017
Comparing magnetic ground-state properties of the V- and Cr-doped topological insulator ( Bi , Sb ) 2 Te 3 journal January 2020
Exchange-biasing topological charges by antiferromagnetism journal July 2018
Magnetic modulation doping in topological insulators toward higher-temperature quantum anomalous Hall effect text January 2015
Magnetic profile of proximity-coupled ( Dy , Bi ) 2 Te 3 / ( Cr , Sb ) 2 Te 3 topological insulator heterostructures journal August 2019
Realization of the Axion Insulator State in Quantum Anomalous Hall Sandwich Heterostructures journal January 2018
Direct evidence of ferromagnetism in a quantum anomalous Hall system journal May 2018
Quantum-Hall to Insulator Transition in Ultra-low-carrier-density Topological Insulator Films and a Hidden Phase of the Zeroth Landau Level text January 2019
Spectroscopic Fingerprint of Chiral Majorana Modes at the Edge of a Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator / Superconductor Heterostructure text January 2018
Phase transition and anomalous scaling in the quantum Hall transport of topological-insulator Sn B i 1.1 S b 0.9 T e 2 S devices journal February 2019
Topological quantum phase transition in magnetic topological insulator upon magnetization rotation journal October 2018
Scaling of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect as an Indicator of Axion Electrodynamics text January 2017
Prediction of Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator in half-fluorinated GaBi Honeycomb journal August 2016
Epitaxy and structural properties of (V,Bi,Sb) 2 Te 3 layers exhibiting the quantum anomalous Hall effect journal June 2017