Breaking time reversal symmetry in topological insulators

Abstract

A wide class of materials that were discovered to carry a topologically protected phase order has led to a highly active area of research called topological insulators. This phenomenon has radically changed our thinking because of their robust quantum coherent behavior showing two-dimensional Dirac-type metallic surface states and simultaneously insulating bulk states. The Dirac SSs are induced by the strong spin-orbit coupling as well as protected by the time reversal symmetry. Breaking TRS in a TI with ferromagnetic perturbation can lead to many exotic quantum phenomena, such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect, topological magnetoelectric effect, as well as image magnetic monopole. This article presents an overview of the current status of TRS breaking in TIs and outlines the prospects for future studies

14 pages, 6 figures, invited review paper for MRS Bulletin

References in corpus (9)

• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface
• Topological Field Theory of Time-Reversal Invariant Insulators
• Quantized Anomalous Hall Effect in Magnetic Topological Insulators
• Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in Hg${}_{1-y}$Mn${}_y$Te Quantum Wells
• Electrically detected interferometry of Majorana fermions in a topological insulator
• Impurity effect on weak anti-localization in the topological insulator Bi2Te3
• The development of ferromagnetism in the doped topological insulator Bi2-xMnxTe3
• Chemical potential dependent gap-opening at the Dirac surface states of Bi2Se3 induced by aggregated substitutional Cr atoms

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Experimental Verification of Van Vleck Nature of Long-Range Ferromagnetic Order in Vanadium-Doped Three-Dimensional Topological Insulator Sb${}_2$Te${}_3$
• Observation of Interfacial Antiferromagnetic Coupling between Magnetic Topological Insulator and Antiferromagnetic Insulator
• Even-Odd Layer-Dependent Exchange Bias Effect in MnBi2Te4 Chern Insulator Devices
• Effects of Defects and Dephasing on Charge and Spin Currents in Two-Dimensional Topological Insulators
• Controlling the real-time dynamics of a spin coupled to the helical edge states of the Kane-Mele model