No Arabic abstract
The interplay between magnetism and topology, as exemplified in the magnetic skyrmion systems, has emerged as a rich playground for finding novel quantum phenomena and applications in future information technology. Magnetic topological insulators (TI) have attracted much recent attention, especially after the experimental realization of quantum anomalous Hall effect. Future applications of magnetic TI hinge on the accurate manipulation of magnetism and topology by external perturbations, preferably with a gate electric field. In this work, we investigate the magneto transport properties of Cr doped Bi2(SexTe1-x)3 TI across the topological quantum critical point (QCP). We find that the external gate voltage has negligible effect on the magnetic order for samples far away from the topological QCP. But for the sample near the QCP, we observe a ferromagnetic (FM) to paramagnetic (PM) phase transition driven by the gate electric field. Theoretical calculations show that a perpendicular electric field causes a shift of electronic energy levels due to the Stark effect, which induces a topological quantum phase transition and consequently a magnetic phase transition. The in situ electrical control of the topological and magnetic properties of TI shed important new lights on future topological electronic or spintronic device applications.
We show that direct current in a tantalum microstrip can induce steady-state magnetic oscillations in an adjacent nanomagnet through spin torque from the spin Hall effect (SHE). The oscillations are detected electrically via a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) contacting the nanomagnet. The oscillation frequency can be controlled using the MTJ bias to tune the magnetic anisotropy. In this 3-terminal device the SHE torque and the MTJ bias therefore provide independent controls of the oscillation amplitude and frequency, enabling new approaches for developing tunable spin torque nano-oscillators.
We study the magnetic proximity effect on a two-dimensional topological insulator in a CrI$_3$/SnI$_3$/CrI$_3$ trilayer structure. From first-principles calculations, the BiI$_3$-type SnI$_3$ monolayer without spin-orbit coupling has Dirac cones at the corners of the hexagonal Brillouin zone. With spin-orbit coupling turned on, it becomes a topological insulator, as revealed by a non-vanishing $Z_2$ invariant and an effective model from symmetry considerations. Without spin-orbit coupling, the Dirac points are protected if the CrI$_3$ layers are stacked ferromagnetically, and are gapped if the CrI$_3$ layers are stacked antiferromagnetically, which can be explained by the irreducible representations of the magnetic space groups $C_{3i}^1$ and $C_{3i}^1(C_3^1)$, corresponding to ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic stacking, respectively. By analyzing the effective model including the perturbations, we find that the competition between the magnetic proximity effect and spin-orbit coupling leads to a topological phase transition between a trivial insulator and a topological insulator.
The charge ordered La$_{1/3}$Sr$_{2/3}$FeO$_{3-delta}$ (LSFO) in bulk and nanocrystalline forms are investigated using ac and dc magnetization, M{o}ssbauer, and polarised neutron studies. A complex scenario of short range charge and magnetic ordering is realized from the polarised neutron studies in nanocrystalline specimen. This short range ordering does not involve any change in spin state and modification in the charge disproportion between Fe$^{3+}$ and Fe$^{5+}$ compared to bulk counterpart as evident in the M{o}ssbauer results. The refinement of magnetic diffraction peaks provides magnetic moments of Fe$^{3+}$ and Fe$^{5+}$ are about 3.15$mu_B$ and 1.57$mu_B$ for bulk, and 2.7$mu_B$ and 0.53$mu_B$ for nanocrystalline specimen, respectively. The destabilization of charge ordering leads to magnetic phase separation, giving rise to the robust exchange bias (EB) effect. Strikingly, EB field at 5 K attains a value as high as 4.4 kOe for average size $sim$ 70 nm, which is zero for the bulk counterpart. A strong frequency dependence of ac susceptibility reveals cluster-glass like transition around $sim$ 65 K, below which EB appears. Overall results propose that finite size effect directs the complex glassy magnetic behavior driven by unconventional short range charge and magnetic ordering, and magnetic phase separation appears in nanocrystalline LSFO.
Three-dimensional topological insulators (3D-TIs) possess a specific topological order of electronic bands, resulting in gapless surface states via bulk-edge correspondence. Exotic phenomena have been realized in ferromagnetic TIs, such as the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect with a chiral edge conduction and a quantized value of the Hall resistance ${R_{yx}}$. Here, we report on the emergence of distinct topological phases in paramagnetic Fe-doped (Bi,Sb)${_2}$Se${_3}$ heterostructures with varying structure architecture, doping, and magnetic and electric fields. Starting from a 3D-TI, a two-dimensional insulator appears at layer thicknesses below a critical value, which turns into an Anderson insulator for Fe concentrations sufficiently large to produce localization by magnetic disorder. With applying a magnetic field, a topological transition from the Anderson insulator to the QAH state occurs, which is driven by the formation of an exchange gap owing to a giant Zeeman splitting and reduced magnetic disorder. Topological phase diagram of (Bi,Sb)${_2}$Se${_3}$ allows exploration of intricate interplay of topological protection, magnetic disorder, and exchange splitting.
The independent control of two magnetic electrodes and spin-coherent transport in magnetic tunnel junctions are strictly required for tunneling magnetoresistance, while junctions with only one ferromagnetic electrode exhibit tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance dependent on the anisotropic density of states with no room temperature performance so far. Here we report an alternative approach to obtaining tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance in alfa-FeRh-based junctions driven by the magnetic phase transition of alfa-FeRh and resultantly large variation of the density of states in the vicinity of MgO tunneling barrier, referred to as phase transition tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance. The junctions with only one alfa-FeRh magnetic electrode show a magnetoresistance ratio up to 20% at room temperature. Both the polarity and magnitude of the phase transition tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance can be modulated by interfacial engineering at the alfa-FeRh/MgO interface. Besides the fundamental significance, our finding might add a different dimension to magnetic random access memory and antiferromagnet spintronics.