Tailoring Exchange Couplings in Magnetic Topological Insulator/Antiferromagnet Heterostructures

Published

January 1, 2017

Author(s)

Qing Lin He, Xufeng Kou, Alexander Grutter, Gen Yin, Lei Pan, Xiaoyu Che, Yuxiang Liu, Tianxiao Nie, Bin Zhang, Steven M.T. Disseler, Brian Kirby, William D. Ratcliff, Qiming Shao, Koichi Murata, Xiaodan Zhu, Guoqiang Yu, Yabin Fan, Mohammad Montazeri, Xiaodong Han, Julie Borchers, Kang L. Wang

Abstract

Magnetic topological insulators such as Cr-doped (Bi,Sb)₂Te₃ provide a platform for the realization of versatile time-reversal symmetry-breaking physics. By constructing heterostructures with the unique Neel order in an antiferromagnetic CrSb and the magnetic topological order in Cr-dopped (Bi,Sb)₂Te₃, we realize emergent interfacial magnetic phenomena which can be tailored through artificial structural engineering. Through deliberate geometrical designs of the heterostructures and superlattices, we demonstrate the use of antiferromagnetic exchange coupling in manipulating the magnetic properties of the topological surface massive Dirac fermions. By tuning these interactions, we show a large tunable enhancement in the magnetic ordering. This work provides a new framework on integrating topological insulators with antiferromagnetic materials and unveils new avenues towards dissipationless topological antiferromagnetic spintronics.

Citation

Nature Materials

Volume

16

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Magnetism, Topological Insulator, Antiferromaget, Spintronics, Superlattice, Interface

Citation

He, Q. , Kou, X. , Grutter, A. , Yin, G. , Pan, L. , Che, X. , Liu, Y. , Nie, T. , Zhang, B. , Disseler, S. , Kirby, B. , Ratcliff, W. , Shao, Q. , Murata, K. , Zhu, X. , Yu, G. , Fan, Y. , Montazeri, M. , Han, X. , Borchers, J. and Wang, K. (2017), Tailoring Exchange Couplings in Magnetic Topological Insulator/Antiferromagnet Heterostructures, Nature Materials, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=920851 (Accessed October 13, 2025)