English

Spin scattering and noncollinear spin structure-induced intrinsic anomalous Hall effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator $\mathrm{MnBi_2Te_4}$

Materials Science 2019-08-28 v1

Abstract

MnBi2Te4\mathrm{MnBi_2Te_4} has recently been established as an intrinsic antiferromagnetic (AFM) topological insulator and predicted to be an ideal platform to realize quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulator and axion insulator states. We performed comprehensive studies on the structure, nontrivial surface state and magnetotransport properties of this material. Our results reveal an intrinsic anomalous Hall effect arising from a non-collinear spin structure for the magnetic field parallel to the cc-axis. We also observed remarkable negative magnetoresistance under arbitrary field orientation below and above the Neel temperature (TN_N), providing clear evidence for strong spin fluctuation-driven spin scattering in both the AFM and paramagnetic states. Further, we found that the nontrivial surface state opens a large gap (~85 meV) even at temperatures far above TN_N = 25K. These findings demonstrate that the bulk band structure of MnBi2Te4\mathrm{MnBi_2Te_4} is strongly coupled to the magnetic structure and that a net Berry curvature in momentum space can be created in a canted AFM state. In addition, our results imply that the gap opening in the surface states is intrinsic, likely caused by the strong spin fluctuations near the surface layers.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1812.00339,
  title  = {Spin scattering and noncollinear spin structure-induced intrinsic anomalous Hall effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator $\mathrm{MnBi_2Te_4}$},
  author = {Seng Huat Lee and Yanglin Zhu and Yu Wang and Leixin Miao and Timothy Pillsbury and Susan Kempinger and David Graf and Nasim Alem and Cui-Zu Chang and Nitin Samarth and Zhiqiang Mao},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1812.00339},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

27 Pages, 8 figures