Electrically Tunable Magnetism in Magnetic Topological Insulators

Abstract

The external controllability of the magnetic properties in topological insulators would be important both for fundamental and practical interests. Here we predict the electric-field control of ferromagnetism in a thin film of insulating magnetic topological insulators. The decrease of band inversion by the application of electric fields results in a reduction of magnetic susceptibility, and hence in the modification of magnetism. Remarkably, the electric field could even induce the magnetic quantum phase transition from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism. We further propose a topological transistor device in which the dissipationless charge transport of chiral edge states is controlled by an electric field. In particular, the field-controlled ferromagnetism in magnetic topological insulator can be used for voltage based writing of magnetic random access memories in magnetic tunnel junctions. The simultaneous electrical control of magnetic order and chiral edge transport in such devices may lead to electronic and spintronic applications for topological insulators.

4.9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Accepted to Phys. Rev. Lett

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• Electrically tunable topological superconductivity and Majorana fermions in two dimensions
• Magnetic quantum phase transition in Cr-doped Bi2(SexTe1-x)3 driven by the Stark effect
• Voltage-driven Magnetization Switching via Dirac Magnetic Anisotropy and Spin--orbit Torque in Topological-insulator-based Magnetic Heterostructures
• Effect of surface hybridization on RKKY coupling in ferromagnet/topological insulator/ferromagnet trilayer system
• Effect of chiral selective tunneling on quantum transport in magnetic topological-insulator thin films