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    Two-dimensional ferromagnetic extension of a topological insulator
    (College Park, MD : APS, 2023) Kagerer, P.; Fornari, C. I.; Buchberger, S.; Tschirner, T.; Veyrat, L.; Kamp, M.; Tcakaev, A. V.; Zabolotnyy, V.; Morelhão, S. L.; Geldiyev, B.; Müller, S.; Fedorov, A.; Rienks, E.; Gargiani, P.; Valvidares, M.; Folkers, L. C.; Isaeva, A.; Büchner, B.; Hinkov, V.; Claessen, R.; Bentmann, H.; Reinert, F.
    Inducing a magnetic gap at the Dirac point of the topological surface state (TSS) in a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) is a route to dissipationless charge and spin currents. Ideally, magnetic order is present only at the surface, as through proximity of a ferromagnetic (FM) layer. However, experimental evidence of such a proximity-induced Dirac mass gap is missing, likely due to an insufficient overlap of TSS and the FM subsystem. Here, we take a different approach, namely ferromagnetic extension (FME), using a thin film of the 3D TI Bi2Te3, interfaced with a monolayer of the lattice-matched van der Waals ferromagnet MnBi2Te4. Robust 2D ferromagnetism with out-of-plane anisotropy and a critical temperature of Tc≈15 K is demonstrated by x-ray magnetic dichroism and electrical transport measurements. Using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we observe the opening of a sizable magnetic gap in the 2D FM phase, while the surface remains gapless in the paramagnetic phase above Tc. Ferromagnetic extension paves the way to explore the interplay of strictly 2D magnetism and topological surface states, providing perspectives for realizing robust quantum anomalous Hall and chiral Majorana states.
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    Chirality flip of Weyl nodes and its manifestation in strained MoTe2
    (College Park, MD : APS, 2021) Könye, Viktor; Bouhon, Adrien; Fulga, Ion Cosma; Slager, Robert-Jan; van den Brink, Jeroen; Facio, Jorge I.
    Due to their topological charge, or chirality, the Weyl cones present in topological semimetals are considered robust against arbitrary perturbations. One well-understood exception to this robustness is the pairwise creation or annihilation of Weyl cones, which involves the overlap of two oppositely charged nodes in energy and momentum. Here we show that their topological charge can in fact change sign, in a process that involves the merging of not two, but three Weyl nodes. This is facilitated by the presence of rotation and time-reversal symmetries, which constrain the relative positions of Weyl cones in momentum space. We analyze the chirality flip process, showing that transport properties distinguish it from the conventional, double Weyl merging. Moreover, we predict that the chirality flip occurs in MoTe$_2$, where experimentally accessible strain leads to the merging of three Weyl cones close to the Fermi level. Our work sets the stage to further investigate and observe such chirality flipping processes in different topological materials.