Nonreciprocal Transport in a Bilayer of MnBi2Te4 and Pt

Chen Ye; Xiangnan Xie; Wenxing Lv; Ke Huang; Allen Jian Yang; Sicong Jiang; Xue Liu; Dapeng Zhu; Xuepeng Qiu; Mingyu Tong; Tong Zhou; Chuang-Han Hsu; Guoqing Chang; Hsin Lin; Peisen Li; Kesong Yang; Zhenyu Wang; Tian Jiang; Xiao Renshaw Wang

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c04756

Nonreciprocal Transport in a Bilayer of MnBi₂Te₄ and Pt

Nano Lett. 2022 Feb 9;22(3):1366-1373. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c04756. Epub 2022 Jan 24.

Authors

Chen Ye¹, Xiangnan Xie², Wenxing Lv³, Ke Huang¹, Allen Jian Yang¹, Sicong Jiang^{4

5}, Xue Liu^{1

6}, Dapeng Zhu^{7

8}, Xuepeng Qiu⁹, Mingyu Tong¹⁰, Tong Zhou², Chuang-Han Hsu¹¹, Guoqing Chang¹, Hsin Lin¹¹, Peisen Li¹², Kesong Yang^{4

5}, Zhenyu Wang^{2

13

14}, Tian Jiang^{2

15}, Xiao Renshaw Wang^{1

16}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link 637371, Singapore.
² State Key Laboratory of High Performance Computing, College of Computer Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, P.R. China.
³ Physics Laboratory, Industrial Training Center, Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, P.R. China.
⁴ Department of NanoEngineering and Program of Chemical Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0448, United States.
⁵ Program of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0418, United States.
⁶ Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, P.R. China.
⁷ Fert Beijing Institute, MIIT Key Laboratory of Spintronics, School of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P.R. China.
⁸ Beihang-Goertek Joint Microelectronics Institute, Qingdao Research Institute, Beihang University, Qingdao 266000, P.R. China.
⁹ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology and School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, P.R. China.
¹⁰ College of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, P.R. China.
¹¹ Insitute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan.
¹² College of Intelligence Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, P.R. China.
¹³ National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Academy of Military Sciences PLA China, Beijing 100010, P.R. China.
¹⁴ Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, Beijing 100084, P.R. China.
¹⁵ Beijing Institute for Advanced Study, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, P.R. China.
¹⁶ School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore.

PMID: 35073094
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c04756

Abstract

MnBi₂Te₄ (MBT) is the first intrinsic magnetic topological insulator with the interaction of spin-momentum locked surface electrons and intrinsic magnetism, and it exhibits novel magnetic and topological phenomena. Recent studies suggested that the interaction of electrons and magnetism can be affected by the Mn-doped Bi₂Te₃ phase at the surface due to inevitable structural defects. Here, we report an observation of nonreciprocal transport, that is, current-direction-dependent resistance, in a bilayer composed of antiferromagnetic MBT and nonmagnetic Pt. The emergence of the nonreciprocal response below the Néel temperature confirms a correlation between nonreciprocity and intrinsic magnetism in the surface state of MBT. The angular dependence of the nonreciprocal transport indicates that nonreciprocal response originates from the asymmetry scattering of electrons at the surface of MBT mediated by magnon. Our work provides an insight into nonreciprocity arising from the correlation between magnetism and Dirac surface electrons in intrinsic magnetic topological insulators.

Keywords: asymmetric scattering of electrons; magnetic topological insulator; magnetoresistance; nonreciprocal transport.