Quantum Anomalous Hall State in Ferromagnetic SrRuO_{3} (111) Bilayers

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Jul 14;119(2):026402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.026402. Epub 2017 Jul 13.

Abstract

SrRuO_{3} heterostructures grown in the (111) direction are a rare example of thin film ferromagnets. By means of density functional theory plus dynamical mean field theory we show that the half-metallic ferromagnetic state with an ordered magnetic moment of 2 μ_{B}/Ru survives the ultimate dimensional confinement down to a bilayer, even at elevated temperatures of 500 K. In the minority channel, the spin-orbit coupling opens a gap at the linear band crossing corresponding to 3/4 filling of the t_{2g} shell. We predict that the emergent phase is Haldane's quantum anomalous Hall state with Chern number C=1, without an external magnetic field or magnetic impurities.