We're sorry but this page doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue.
Feedback

Magnetism-induced massive Dirac spectra and topological defects in the surface state of Cr-doped Bi2Se3-bilayer topological insulators

Formal Metadata

Title
Magnetism-induced massive Dirac spectra and topological defects in the surface state of Cr-doped Bi2Se3-bilayer topological insulators
Title of Series
Number of Parts
62
Author
License
CC Attribution 3.0 Unported:
You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor.
Identifiers
Publisher
Release Date2015
LanguageEnglish

Content Metadata

Subject Area
Genre
Abstract
Proximity-induced magnetic effects on the surface Dirac spectra of topological insulators are investigated by scanning tunneling spectroscopic studies of bilayer structures consisting of undoped Bi2Se3 thin films on top of Cr-doped Bi2Se3 layers. For thickness of the top Bi2Se3 layer equal to or smaller than 3 quintuple layers, a spatially inhomogeneous surface spectral gap Δ opens up below a characteristic temperature which is much higher than the bulk Curie temperature determined from the anomalous Hall resistance. The mean value and spatial homogeneity of the gap Δ generally increase with increasing c-axis magnetic field (H) and increasing Cr doping level (x), suggesting that the physical origin of this surface gap is associated with proximity-induced c-axis ferromagnetism. On the other hand, the temperature (T) dependence of Δ is non-monotonic, showing initial increase below which is followed by a 'dip' and then rises again, reaching maximum at T   These phenomena may be attributed to proximity magnetism induced by two types of contributions with different temperature dependences: a three-dimensional contribution from the bulk magnetism that dominates at low T, and a two-dimensional contribution associated with the RKKY interactions mediated by surface Dirac fermions, which dominates at   T <  In addition to the observed proximity magnetism, spatially localized sharp resonant spectra are found along the boundaries of gapped and gapless regions. These spectral resonances are long-lived at H = 0, with their occurrences being most prominent near and becoming suppressed under strong c-axis magnetic fields. We attribute these phenomena to magnetic impurity-induced topological defects in the spin texture of surface Dirac fermions, with the magnetic impurities being isolated Cr impurities distributed near the interface of the bilayer system. The long-term stability of these topologically protected two-level states may find potential applications to quantum information technology.