Experimental demonstration of a magnetically induced warping transition in a topological insulator mediated by rare-earth surface dopants
Beatriz Muñiz Cano, Miguel A. Valbuena, and their colleagues from IMDEA Nanoscience have spearheaded research into magnetic topological insulators, a special type of material with unique properties. These materials exhibit a fascinating interplay between surface states and magnetic order. This combination leads to a change in the symmetry of these materials, predicted to alter their shape from a hexagon to a triangle when a certain energy gap is opened.
The cover art illustrates this transition, which was observed in a specific type of these materials, called Bi2Se2Te, when doped with rare-earth elements like Erbium (Er) and Dysprosium (Dy). The authors also noticed that by increasing the amount of these rare-earth elements, the properties of the surface states can be controlled, allowing to gradually adjust the energy level towards the opened gap.
These findings open up new ways to control the interaction of magnetic fields with these surface states, and could potentially lead to the realization of a quantum phenomenon known as the quantum anomalous Hall effect.
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