Manifestation of axion electrodynamics through magnetic ordering on edges of topological insulator

Abstract

Based on a first-principles approach, we show that in a single crystal of a prototypical topological insulator such as Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ the difference in the work function between adjacent surfaces with different crystal-face orientations generates a built-in electric field around facet edges. Owing to the topological magnetoelectric coupling for a given broken time-reversal symmetry in the crystal, the electric field, in turn, forces effective magnetic dipoles to accumulate along the edges, realizing the facet-edge magnetic ordering. We demonstrate that the predicted magnetic ordering which depends only on the work function difference between facets, is in fact a manifestation of the axion electrodynamics in real solids.

References in corpus (5)

• Experimental Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in a Magnetic 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
• Strong surface scattering in ultrahigh mobility Bi2Se3 topological insulator crystals
• First Principles Studies on 3-Dimentional Strong Topological Insulators: Bi2Te3, Bi2Se3 and Sb2Te3

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Magnetic, thermal, and electronic-transport properties of EuMg2Bi2 single crystals
• Dynamical axion state with hidden pseudospin Chern numbers in MnBi${}_2$Te${}_4$-based heterostructures
• Quantum Hall Edge States in Topological Insulator Nanoribbons
• Electromagnetic effects induced by time-dependent axion field
• Experimental search for one-dimensional edge states at surface steps of the topological insulator Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$: Distinguishing between effects and artifacts
• Axion instability and non-linear electromagnetic effect
• Dynamic axion field in the magnetoelectric antiferromagnet chromia
• Fermion-Vortex Interactions in Axion Electrodynamics