Realization of an intrinsic ferromagnetic topological state in MnBi₈Te₁₃.

Abstract

Novel magnetic topological materials pave the way for studying the interplay between band topology and magnetism. However, an intrinsically ferromagnetic topological material with only topological bands at the charge neutrality energy has so far remained elusive. Using rational design, we synthesized MnBi8Te13, a natural heterostructure with [MnBi₂Te₄] and [Bi₂Te₃] layers. Thermodynamic, transport, and neutron diffraction measurements show that despite the adjacent [MnBi₂Te₄] being 44.1 Å apart, MnBi₈Te₁₃ manifests long-range ferromagnetism below 10.5 K with strong coupling between magnetism and charge carriers. First-principles calculations and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal it is an axion insulator with sizable surface hybridization gaps. Our calculations further demonstrate the hybridization gap persists in the two-dimensional limit with a nontrivial Chern number. Therefore, as an intrinsic ferromagnetic axion insulator with clean low-energy band structures, MnBi₈Te₁₃ serves as an ideal system to investigate rich emergent phenomena, including the quantized anomalous Hall effect and quantized magnetoelectric effect.