Spin fluctuations in quantized transport of magnetic topological insulators

Abstract

In magnetic topological insulators, quantized electronic transport is interwined with spontaneous magnetic ordering, as magnetization controls band gaps, hence band topology, through the exchange interaction. We show that considering the exchange gaps at the mean-field level is inadequate to predict phase transitions between electronic states of distinct topology. Thermal spin fluctuations disturbing the magnetization can act as frozen disorders that strongly scatter electrons, reducing the onset temperature of quantized transport appreciably even in the absence of structural impurities. This effect, which has hitherto been overlooked, provides an alternative explanation of recent experiments on intrinsic magnetic topological insulators.

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Colloquium: Quantum anomalous Hall effect
• Quantum Imaging of Magnetic Phase Transitions and Spin Fluctuations in Intrinsic Magnetic Topological Nanoflakes
• Evolution of Berry curvature and reentrant quantum anomalous Hall effect in an intrinsic magnetic topological insulator
• Identifying Axion Insulator by Quantized Magnetoelectric Effect in Antiferromagnetic ${\mathrm{MnBi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_4$ Tunnel Junction
• Influences of the dissipative topological edge state on quantized transport in MnBi2Te4
• A Self-Adaptive First-Principles Approach for Magnetic Excited States
• Voltage-driven exchange resonance achieving 100\% mechanical efficiency
• Chiral edge state coupling theory of transport in quantum anomalous Hall insulators
• Gaussian boson sampling and multi-particle event optimization by machine learning in the quantum phase space
• Direct visualization of edge state in even-layer MnBi2Te4 at zero magnetic field
• Interlayer Exchange Coupling-Induced Critical-Metal-to-Insulator Phase Transition in Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulators