The intrinsic magnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 (MBT) has provided a platform for the successful realization of exotic quantum phenomena. To broaden the horizons of MBT-based material systems, we intercalate ferromagnetic MnTe layers to construct the [(MBT)(MnTe)m]N superlattices by molecular beam epitaxy. The effective incorporation of ferromagnetic spacers mediates the anti-ferromagnetic interlayer coupling among the MBT layers through the exchange spring effect at the MBT/MnTe hetero-interfaces. Moreover, the precise control of the MnTe thickness enables the modulation of relative strengths among the constituent magnetic orders, leading to tunable magnetoelectric responses, while the superlattice periodicity serves as an additional tuning parameter to tailor the spin configurations of the synthesized multi-layers. Our results demonstrate the advantages of superlattice engineering for optimizing the magnetic interactions in MBT-family systems, and the ferromagnet-intercalated strategy opens up new avenues in magnetic topological insulator structural design and spintronic applications.
@article{arxiv.2112.04303,
title = {Tailoring Magnetic Exchange Interactions in Ferromagnet-Intercalated MnBi2Te4 Superlattices},
author = {Peng Chen and Qi Yao and Qiang Sun and Alexander J. Grutter and P. Quarterman and Purnima P. Balakrishnan and Christy J. Kinane and Andrew J. Caruana and Sean Langridge and Baoshan Cui and Lun Li and Yuchen Ji and Yong Zhang and Zhongkai Liu and Jin Zou and Guoqiang Yu and Yumeng Yang and Xufeng Kou},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2112.04303},
year = {2023}
}