The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect is characterized by a dissipationless chiral edge state with a quantized Hall resistance at zero magnetic field. Manipulating the QAH state is of great importance in both the understanding of topological quantum physics and the implementation of dissipationless electronics. Here, the QAH effect is realized in the magnetic topological insulator Cr‐doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3(CBST) grown on an uncompensated antiferromagnetic insulator Al‐doped Cr2O3. Through polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR), a strong exchange coupling is found between CBST and Al‐Cr2O3surface spins fixing interfacial magnetic moments perpendicular to the film plane. The interfacial coupling results in an exchange‐biased QAH effect. This study further demonstrates that the magnitude and sign of the exchange bias can be effectively controlled using a field training process to set the magnetization of the Al‐Cr2O3layer. It demonstrates the use of the exchange bias effect to effectively manipulate the QAH state, opening new possibilities in QAH‐based spintronics.
The Rashba effect has recently attracted great attention owing to emerging physical properties associated with it. The interplay between the Rashba effect and the Zeeman effect, being produced by the exchange field, is expected to broaden the range of these properties and even result in novel phenomena. Here we predict an insulator-to-conductor transition driven by the Rashba–Zeeman effect. We first illustrate this effect using a general Hamiltonian model and show that the insulator-to-conductor transition can be triggered under certain Rashba and exchange-field strengths. Then, we exemplify this phenomenon by considering an Ag2Te/Cr2O3heterostructure, where the electronic structure of the Ag2Te monolayer is affected across the interface by the proximity effect of the Cr2O3antiferromagnetic layer with well-defined surface magnetization. Based on first-principles calculations, we predict that such a system can be driven into either insulating or conducting phase, depending on the surface magnetization orientation of the Cr2O3layer. Our results enrich the Rashba–Zeeman physics and provide useful guidelines for the realization of the insulator-to-conductor transition, which may be interesting for experimental verification.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10201324
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- npj Computational Materials
- Volume:
- 6
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2057-3960
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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