Chi Tang

Proximity-induced ferromagnetism in graphene revealed by the anomalous Hall effect.

We demonstrate the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in single-layer graphene exchange coupled to an atomically flat yttrium iron garnet (YIG) ferromagnetic thin film. The anomalous Hall conductance has magnitude of ∼0.09(2e(2)/h) at low temperatures and is measurable up to ∼300  K. Our observations indicate not only proximity-induced ferromagnetism in graphene/YIG with a large exchange interaction, but also enhanced spin-orbit coupling that is believed to be inherently weak in ideal graphene. The proximity-induced ferromagnetic order in graphene can lead to novel transport phenomena such as the quantized AHE which are potentially useful for spintronics.

Enhanced spin Seebeck effect signal due to spin-momentum locked topological surface states

Spin-momentum locking in protected surface states enables efficient electrical detection of magnon decay at a magnetic-insulator/topological-insulator heterojunction. Here we demonstrate this property using the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), that is, measuring the transverse thermoelectric response to a temperature gradient across a thin film of yttrium iron garnet, an insulating ferrimagnet, and forming a heterojunction with (BixSb1−x)2Te3, a topological insulator. The non-equilibrium magnon population established at the interface can decay in part by interactions of magnons with electrons near the Fermi energy of the topological insulator. When this decay channel is made active by tuning (BixSb1−x)2Te3 into a bulk insulator, a large electromotive force emerges in the direction perpendicular to the in-plane magnetization of yttrium iron garnet. The enhanced, tunable SSE which occurs when the Fermi level lies in the bulk gap offers unique advantages over the usual SSE in metals and therefore opens up exciting possibilities in spintronics.

Independent Tuning of Electronic Properties and Induced Ferromagnetism in Topological Insulators with Heterostructure Approach

The quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) has been recently demonstrated in Cr- and V-doped three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs) at temperatures below 100 mK. In those materials, the spins of unfilled d-electrons in the transition metal dopants are exchange coupled to develop a long-range ferromagnetic order, which is essential for realizing QAHE. However, the addition of random dopants does not only introduce excess charge carriers that require readjusting the Bi/Sb ratio, but also unavoidably introduces paramagnetic spins that can adversely affect the chiral edge transport in QAHE. In this work, we show a heterostructure approach to independently tune the electronic and magnetic properties of the topological surface states in (BixSb1-x)2Te3 without resorting to random doping of transition metal elements. In heterostructures consisting of a thin (BixSb1-x)2Te3 TI film and yttrium iron garnet (YIG), a high Curie temperature (∼550 K) magnetic insulator, we find that the TI surface in contact with YIG becomes ferromagnetic via proximity coupling which is revealed by the anomalous Hall effect (AHE). The Curie temperature of the magnetized TI surface ranges from 20 to 150 K but is uncorrelated with the Bi fraction x in (BixSb1-x)2Te3. In contrast, as x is varied, the AHE resistivity scales with the longitudinal resistivity. In this approach, we decouple the electronic properties from the induced ferromagnetism in TI. The independent optimization provides a pathway for realizing QAHE at higher temperatures, which is important for novel spintronic device applications.

Induced magneto-transport properties at palladium/yttrium iron garnet interface

As a thin layer of palladium (Pd) is directly deposited on an yttrium iron garnet or YIG (Y3Fe5O12) magnetic insulator film, Pd develops both low- and high-field magneto-transport effects that are absent in standalone Pd or thick Pd on YIG. While the low-field magnetoresistance peak of Pd tracks the coercive field of the YIG film, the much larger high-field magnetoresistance and the Hall effect do not show any obvious relationship with the bulk YIG magnetization. The distinct high-field magneto-transport effects in Pd are shown to be caused by interfacial local moments in Pd.

Exquisite growth control and magnetic properties of yttrium iron garnet thin films

A layer-by-layer epitaxial growth up to 227 atomic layers of ferrimagnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin films is achieved on (110)-oriented gadolinium gallium garnet substrates using pulsed laser deposition. Atomically smooth terraces are observed on YIG films up to 100 nm in thickness. The root-mean-square roughness is as low as 0.067 nm. The easy-axis lies in the film plane, indicating the dominance of shape anisotropy. For (110)-YIG films, there is well-defined two-fold in-plane anisotropy, with the easiest axis directed along [001]. The Gilbert damping constant is determined to be 1.0 × 10−4 for 100 nm thick films.

Above 400-K robust perpendicular ferromagnetic phase in a topological insulator

Topological surface states reveal proximity-induced ferromagnetism with perpendicular anisotropy persisting above 400 K. The quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) that emerges under broken time-reversal symmetry in topological insulators (TIs) exhibits many fascinating physical properties for potential applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics. However, in transition metal–doped TIs, the only experimentally demonstrated QAHE system to date, the QAHE is lost at practically relevant temperatures. This constraint is imposed by the relatively low Curie temperature (Tc) and inherent spin disorder associated with the random magnetic dopants. We demonstrate drastically enhanced Tc by exchange coupling TIs to Tm3Fe5O12, a high-Tc magnetic insulator with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Signatures showing that the TI surface states acquire robust ferromagnetism are revealed by distinct squared anomalous Hall hysteresis loops at 400 K. Point-contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy confirms that the TI surface is spin-polarized. The greatly enhanced Tc, absence of spin disorder, and perpendicular anisotropy are all essential to the occurrence of the QAHE at high temperatures.

A comparative transport study of Bi2Se3 and Bi2Se3/yttrium iron garnet

Bilayers of 20 quintuple layer Bi2Se3 on 30 nm thick yttrium iron garnet (YIG) have been grown with molecular beam epitaxy in conjunction with pulsed laser deposition. The presence of the ferri-magnetic insulator YIG causes additional scattering to the surface states of the Bi2Se3 topological insulator layer, as indicated by the temperature dependence of the resistivity. From the two-channel analysis of the Hall data, we find that the surface contribution in the bilayer samples is greatly reduced. Furthermore, the weak antilocalization effect from the surface states is clearly suppressed due to the presence of the YIG layer.

Structural and proximity-induced ferromagnetic properties of topological insulator-magnetic insulator heterostructures

The spontaneously broken time reversal symmetry can lead to the formation of an energy gap in the Dirac spectrum of the surface states of a topological insulator (TI) which can consequently give rise to a variety of interesting phenomena potentially useful for spintronics. In this work, we couple a non-magnetic TI to a high Curie temperature TC magnetic insulator to induce strong exchange interaction via the proximity effect. We have successfully grown 5 quintuple layer thick ternary TI (BixSb1-x)2Te3 films on atomically flat yttrium iron garnet (YIG) film with the combination of molecular beam epitaxy and pulsed laser deposition, in which the Fermi level position relative to the Dirac point is varied by controlling the Bi:Sb ratio. The anomalous Hall effect (AHE) and suppressed weak antilocalization (WAL) measured under out of plane magnetic fields reveal that the TI surface in contact with YIG is magnetized. Our high-quality (BixSb1-x)2Te3/Y IG heterostructure provides a tunable system for exploring the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) at higher temperatures in TI-based spintronic devices.

Epitaxial growth and properties of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films with micrometer wide atomic terraces

La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) films with extraordinarily wide atomic terraces are epitaxially grown on SrTiO3 (100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Atomic force microscopy measurements on the LSMO films show that the atomic step is ∼4 A and the atomic terrace width is more than 2 μm. For a 20 monolayers (MLs) LSMO film, the magnetization is determined to be 255 ± 15 emu/cm3 at room temperature, corresponding to 1.70 ± 0.11 μB per Mn atom. As the thickness of LSMO increases from 8 MLs to 20 MLs, the critical thickness for the temperature dependent insulator-to-metal behavior transition is shown to be 9 MLs. Furthermore, post-annealing in oxygen environment improves the electron transport and magnetic properties of the LSMO films.

An integrated approach to doped thin films with strain-tunable magnetic anisotropy: powder synthesis, target preparation and pulsed laser deposition of Bi:YIG

We present a synthesis/processing method for fabricating ferrimagnetic insulator (Bi-doped yttrium iron garnet) thin films with tunable magnetic anisotropy. Since the desired magnetic properties rely on controllable thickness and successful doping, we pay attention to the entire synthesis/processing procedure (nanopowder synthesis, nanocrystalline target preparation and pulsed laser deposition (PLD)). Atomically flat films were deposited by PLD on (111)-orientated yttrium aluminum garnet. We show a significant enhancement of perpendicular anisotropy in the films, caused by strain-induced anisotropy. In addition, the perpendicular anisotropy is tunable by decreasing the film thickness and overwhelms the shape anisotropy at a critical thickness of 3.5 nm. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT IMPACT STATEMENT Strain-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in heavily Bi substituted YIG films for ferrimagnetic insulator based spintronic studies and devices.