Probing the low-temperature limit of the quantum anomalous Hall effect.

Pan, Lei; Liu, Xiaoyang; He, Qing Lin; Stern, Alexander; Yin, Gen; Che, Xiaoyu; Shao, Qiming; Zhang, Peng et al. · Sci Adv · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Quantum anomalous Hall effect has been observed in magnetically doped topological insulators. However, full quantization, up until now, is limited within the sub-1 K temperature regime, although the material's magnetic ordering temperature can go beyond 100 K. Here, we study the temperature limiting factors of the effect in Cr-doped (BiSb)<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> systems using both transport and magneto-optical methods. By deliberate control of the thin-film thickness and doping profile, we revealed that the low occurring temperature of quantum anomalous Hall effect in current material system is a combined result of weak ferromagnetism and trivial band involvement. Our findings may provide important insights into the search for high-temperature quantum anomalous Hall insulator and other topologically related phenomena.