English

Ferroelectrically Switchable Half-Quantized Hall Effect

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2025-07-08 v1 Materials Science

Abstract

Integrating ferroelectricity, antiferromagnetism, and topological quantum transport within a single material is rare, but crucial for developing next-generation quantum devices. Here, we propose a multiferroic heterostructure consisting of an antiferromagnetic MnBi2_2Te4_4 bilayer and an Sb2_2Te3_3 film is able to harbor the half-quantized Hall (HQH) effect with a ferroelectrically switchable Hall conductivity of e2/2he^2/2h. We first show that, in the energetically stable configuration, the antiferromagnetic MnBi2_2Te4_4 bilayer opens a gap in the top surface bands of Sb2_2Te3_3 through proximity effect, while its bottom surface bands remain gapless; consequently, HQH conductivity of e2/2he^2/2h can be sustained clockwise or counterclockwise depending on antiferromagnetic configuration of the MnBi2_2Te4_4. Remarkably, when applying interlayer sliding within the MnBi2_2Te4_4 bilayer, its electric polarization direction associated with parity-time reversal symmetry breaking is reversed, accompanied by a reversal of the HQH conductivity. The proposed approach offers a powerful route to control topological quantum transport in antiferromagnetic materials by ferroelectricity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2507.03985,
  title  = {Ferroelectrically Switchable Half-Quantized Hall Effect},
  author = {M. U. Muzaffar and Kai-Zhi Bai and Wei Qin and Guohua Cao and Bo Fu and Ping Cui and Shun-Qing Shen and Zhenyu Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.03985},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

16 pages, 4 figures