Search

An elegant approach to overcome the intrinsic limitations of magnetically doped topological insulators is to bring a topological insulator in direct contact with a magnetic material. The aspiration is to realize the quantum anomalous Hall effect at high temperatures where the symmetry-breaking magnetic field is provided by a proximity-induced magnetization at the interface. Hence, a detailed understanding of the interfacial magnetism in such heterostructures is crucial, yet its distinction from structural and magnetic background effects is a rather nontrivial task. Here, we combine several magnetic characterization techniques to investigate the magnetic ordering in MnTe/Bi2Te3 heterostructures. A magnetization profile of the layer stack is obtained using depth-sensitive polarized neutron reflectometry. The magnetic constituents are characterized in more detail using element-sensitive magnetic x-ray spectroscopy. Magnetotransport measurements provide additional information about the magnetic transitions. We find that the supposedly antiferromagnetic MnTe layer does not exhibit an x-ray magnetic linear dichroic signal, raising doubt that it is in its antiferromagnetic state. Instead, Mn seems to penetrate into the surface region of the Bi 2 Te 3 layer. Furthermore, the interface between MnTe and Bi 2 Te 3 is not abrupt, but extending over ∼ 2.2 nm. These conditions are the likely reason that we do not observe proximity-induced magnetization at the interface. Our findings illustrate the importance of not solely relying on one single technique as proof for proximity-induced magnetism at interfaces. We demonstrate that a holistic, multitechnique approach is essential to gain a more complete picture of the magnetic structure in which the interface is embedded.

An approach to adjusting the conduction band population for tuning the magnetic and magnetocaloric response of EuO1-�� thin films through control of oxygen vacancies (�� = 0, 0.025, and 0.09) is presented. The films each showed a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition around 65 K, with an additional magnetic ordering transition at higher temperatures in the oxygen deficient samples. All transitions are observed to be of second order. A maximum magnetic entropy change of 6.4 J/kg K over a field change of 2 T with a refrigerant capacity of 223 J/kg was found in the sample with �� = 0, and in all cases the refrigerant capacities of the thin films under study were found to exceed that reported for bulk EuO. Adjusting the oxygen content was shown to produce table-like magnetocaloric effects, desirable for ideal Ericsson-cycle magnetic refrigeration. These films are thus excellent candidates for small-scale magnetic cooling technology in the liquid nitrogen temperature range.

Magnetic topological insulators (TIs) are an ideal playground for the study of novel quantum phenomena building on time-reversal symmetry broken topological surface states. By combining different magnetic TIs in a heterostructure, their magnetic and electronic properties can be precisely tuned. Recently, we have combined high-moment Dy:Bi2Te3with high transition temperature Cr:Sb2Te3in a superlattice, and found, using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), that long-range magnetic order can be introduced in the Dy:Bi2Te3layers. Accompanying first-principles calculations indicated that the origin of the long-range magnetic order is a strong antiferromagnetic coupling between Dy and Cr magnetic moments at the interface extending over several layers. However, based on XMCD alone, which is either averaging over the entire thin film stack or is surface sensitive, this coupling scenario could not be fully confirmed. Here we use polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR), which is ideally suited for the detailed study of superlattices, to retrieve the magnetization in a layer- and interface-resolved way. We find that the magnetization is, in contrast to similar recent studies, homogeneous throughout the individual layers, with no apparent interfacial effects. This finding demonstrates that heterostructure engineering is a powerful way of controlling the magnetic properties of entire layers, with the effects of coupling reaching beyond the interface region.

Structural and magnetic properties of 1-10 nm thick Fe films deposited on GaN(0001) were investigated. In-situ reflecting high energy electron diffraction images indicated a α-Fe(110)/GaN(0001) growth of the 3D Volmer-Weber type. The α-Fe(110) XRD peak showed a 1° full-width at half-maximum, indicating ≈ 20 nm grain sizes. A significant reduction in Fe atomic moment from its bulk value was observed for films thinner than 4 nm. Both GaN/Fe interface roughness and Fe film coercivity increased with Fe thickness, indicating a possible deterioration of Fe crystalline quality. Magnetic anisotropy was mainly uniaxial for all films while hexagonal anisotropies appeared for thicknesses higher than 3.7 nm.

This work arises from research funded by the John Fell Oxford University Press Research Fund. LJC-M and LBD acknowledge financial support from EPSRC. LBD acknowledges financial support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK) and AS from the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. We report the structural, electronic, and magnetic study of Cr-doped Sb2Te3 thin films grown by a two-step deposition process using molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). The samples were investigated using a variety of complementary techniques, namely, x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy, SQUID magnetometry, magneto-transport, and polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR). It is found that the samples retain good crystalline order up to a doping level of x = 0.42 (in CrxSb2-xTe3), above which degradation of the crystal structure is observed by XRD. Fits to the recorded XRD spectra indicate a general reduction in the c-axis lattice parameter as a function of doping, consistent with substitutional doping with an ion of smaller ionic radius. The samples show soft ferromagnetic behavior with the easy axis of magnetization being out-of-plane. The saturation magnetization is dependent on the doping level, and reaches from ~2 μBto almost 3 μB per Cr ion. The transition temperature (Tc) depends strongly on the Cr concentration and is found to increase with doping concentration. For the highest achievable doping level for phase-pure films of x = 0.42 ,a Tc of 125 K was determined. Electric transport measurements find surface-dominated transport below ∼10 K. The magnetic properties extracted from anomalous Hall effect data are in excellent agreement with the magnetometry data. PNR studies indicate a uniform magnetization profile throughout the film, with no indication of enhanced magnetic order towards the sample surface. Publisher PDF

We report the structural and magnetic study of Cr-doped Bi2Se3 thin films using x-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetometry and polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR). Epitaxial layers were grown on c-plane sapphire by molecular beam epitaxy in a two-step process. High-resolution XRD shows the exceptionally high crystalline quality of the doped films with no parasitic phases up to a Cr concentration of 12% (in % of the Bi sites occupied by substitutional Cr). The magnetic moment, measured by SQUID magnetometry, was found to be ${\sim}2.1\ \mu_\text{B}$ per Cr ion. The magnetic hysteresis curve shows an open loop with a coercive field of ${\sim}10\ \text{mT}$ . The ferromagnetic transition temperature was determined to be $8.5\ \text{K}$ analyzing the magnetization-temperature gradient. PNR shows the film to be homogeneously ferromagnetic with no enhanced magnetism near the surface or interface.