Interlayer Coupling-Induced Quantum Phase Transition in Quantum Anomalous Hall Multilayers
arXiv:2505.00117 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.111.L201304
Abstract
A quantum phase transition arises from competition between different ground states and is typically accessed by varying a single physical parameter near absolute zero temperature. The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect with high Chern number C has recently been achieved in magnetic topological insulator (TI) multilayers. In this work, we employ molecular beam epitaxy to synthesize a series of magnetic TI penta-layers by varying the thickness of the middle magnetic TI layer, designated as m quintuple layers. Electrical transport measurements demonstrate a quantum phase transition between C = 1 and C = 2 QAH states. For m 1 and m 2, the sample exhibits the well-quantized C = 1 and C = 2 QAH states, respectively. For 1 m 2, we observe a monotonic decrease in Hall resistance from h/e2 to h/2e2 with increasing m, accompanied by a peak in the longitudinal resistance. The quantum phase transition between C = 1 and C = 2 QAH states is attributed to the weakening of the interlayer coupling between the top and the bottom C = 1 QAH layers. Our findings provide a scalable strategy for engineering QAH devices with a tunable Chern number. This approach enables precise control and enhanced functionality in chiral edge current-based electronic devices.
22 pages and 4 figures. Comments are welcome
References in corpus (36)
- Topological insulators and superconductors
- Experimental Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in a Magnetic Topological Insulator
- Topological Field Theory of Time-Reversal Invariant Insulators
- Quantized Anomalous Hall Effect in Magnetic Topological Insulators
- Magnetic-field-induced quantized anomalous Hall effect in intrinsic magnetic topological insulator MnBiTe
- Intrinsic quantized anomalous Hall effect in a moiré heterostructure
- Crossover of Three-Dimensional Topological Insulator of Bi2Se3 to the Two-Dimensional Limit
- High-precision realization of robust quantum anomalous Hall state in a hard ferromagnetic topological insulator
- Model Hamiltonian for Topological Insulators
- Topological insulators in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide homobilayers
- Quantum phase transitions
- Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in HgMnTe Quantum Wells
- Observation of Fractionally Quantized Anomalous Hall Effect
- Trajectory of Anomalous Hall Effect toward the Quantized State in a Ferromagnetic Topological Insulator
- Scale-Invariant Dissipationless Chiral Transport in Magnetic Topological Insulators beyond the Two-Dimensional Limit
- Quantum anomalous Hall effect from intertwined moiré bands
- Colloquium: Quantum anomalous Hall effect
- Valley-Polarized Quantum Anomalous-Hall Effects in Silicene
- Magnetic modulation doping in topological insulators toward higher-temperature quantum anomalous Hall effect
- Precise quantization of anomalous Hall effect near zero magnetic field
- Tuning Chern Number in Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulators
- Topological insulator Bi2Se3 thin films grown on double-layer graphene by molecular beam epitaxy
- Zero-field dissipationless chiral edge transport and the nature of dissipation in the quantum anomalous Hall state
- Chemical potential dependent gap-opening at the Dirac surface states of Bi2Se3 induced by aggregated substitutional Cr atoms
- Concurrence of Quantum Anomalous Hall and Topological Hall Effects in Magnetic Topological Insulator Sandwich Heterostructures
- Anomalous Edge Transport in the Quantum Anomalous Hall State
- Direct evidence of ferromagnetism in a quantum anomalous Hall system
- Current-driven instability of quantum anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic topological insulators
- Origin of the low critical observing temperature of the quantum anomalous Hall effect in V-doped (Bi, Sb)2Te3 film
- Universal flow diagram for the magnetoconductance in disordered GaAs layers
- Zero Magnetic Field Plateau Phase Transition in Higher Chern Number Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulators
- Discovery of a hybrid topological quantum state in an elemental solid
- Scaling flow diagram in the fractional quantum Hall regime of GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures
- Gate-Tunable Quantum Anomalous Hall Effects in MnBiTe Thin Films
- Mapping the phase diagram of the quantum anomalous Hall and topological Hall effects in a dual-gated magnetic topological insulator heterostructure
- Engineering Plateau Phase Transition in Quantum Anomalous Hall Multilayers