磁性拓扑绝缘体中的量子化反常霍尔效应

文章从平常霍尔效应出发,介绍了反常霍尔效应及其内秉物理机制,并在此基础上介绍了其量子化版本——量子化反常霍尔效应.然后从拓扑有序态的角度,重点讨论了量子化反常霍尔效应与量子霍尔效应、量子自旋霍尔效应、拓扑绝缘体等之间的区别与内在联系.最后介绍了通过在拓扑绝缘体（Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 和 Sb2Te3）薄膜中掺杂过渡金属元素（Cr 或 Fe）实现量子化反常霍尔效应的方法.     

Quantum anomalous Hall effect in real materials

Under a strong magnetic field,the quantum Hall(QH) effect can be observed in two-dimensional electronic gas systems.If the quantized Hall conductivity is acquired in a system without the need of an external magnetic field,then it will give rise to a new quantum state,the quantum anomalous Hall(QAH) state.The QAH state is a novel quantum state that is insulating in the bulk but exhibits unique conducting edge states topologically protected from backscattering and holds great potential for applications in low-power-consumption electronics.The realization of the QAH effect in real materials is of great significance.In this paper,we systematically review the theoretical proposals that have been brought forward to realize the QAH effect in various real material systems or structures,including magnetically doped topological insulators,graphene-based systems,silicene-based systems,two-dimensional organometallic frameworks,quantum wells,and functionalized Sb(111) monolayers,etc.Our paper can help our readers to quickly grasp the recent developments in this field.     

从分数量子霍尔效应到拓扑量子计算

分数量子霍尔效应系统是奇异的量子液体,其中的准粒子激发可以带分数电荷,甚至具有非阿贝尔的统计性质。理论研究表明,这些准粒子可以用来实现在硬件上可容错的量子计算,即拓扑量子计算。文章在介绍分数量子霍尔效应及其在拓扑量子计算中的潜在应用基础上,重点回顾了近五年来对填充因子为5/2的分数量子霍尔态中非阿贝尔准粒子的实验探测和部分相关理论诠释。     

从分数量子霍尔效应到拓扑量子计算*

分数量子霍尔效应系统是奇异的量子液体,其中的准粒子激发可以带分数电荷,甚至具有非阿贝尔的统计性质。理论研究表明,这些准粒子可以用来实现在硬件上可容错的量子计算,即拓扑量子计算。文章在介绍分数量子霍尔效应及其在拓扑量子计算中的潜在应用基础上,重点回顾了近五年来对填充因子为5/2的分数量子霍尔态中非阿贝尔准粒子的实验探测和部分相关理论诠释。     

拓扑量子材料简介

近20年来,拓扑量子物态和材料已成为凝聚态物理领域最为重要、发展最快的前沿领域之一。文章简单回顾这一领域的研究进展,介绍包括拓扑材料体系、磁性拓扑材料、拓扑超导体及相关物理。这些材料涉及的研究范畴广泛,未来可能推动电子学、自旋电子学、光学等各个方向的基础研究和产业发展。     

铁磁石墨烯体系的CT不变量子自旋霍尔效应

文章作者在垂直磁场作用下的铁磁石墨烯体系里预言了一种新类型的量子自旋霍尔效应.这量子自旋霍尔效应与自旋轨道耦合无关,体系也不具有时间反演不变性;但是有CT不变（C为电子-空穴变换、T为时间反演变换）.由于量子自旋霍尔效应,体系的纵向电阻和自旋霍尔阻出现量子化平台.特别是,自旋霍尔阻的量子化平台有很强的抗杂质干扰能力.     

Tunable topological quantum states in three- and two-dimensional materials

We review our theoretical advances in tunable topological quantum states in three- and twodimensional materials with strong spin–orbital couplings. In three-dimensional systems, we propose a new tunable topological insulator, bismuth-based skutterudites in which topological insulating states can be induced by external strains. The orbitals involved in the topological band-inversion process are the d- and p-orbitals, unlike typical topological insulators such as Bi₂Se₃and BiTeI, where only the p-orbitals are involved in the band-inversion process. Owing to the presence of large d-electronic states, the electronic interaction in our proposed topological insulator is much stronger than that in other conventional topological insulators. In two-dimensional systems, we investigated 3d-transition-metal-doped silicene. Using both an analytical model and first-principles Wannier interpolation, we demonstrate that silicene decorated with certain 3d transition metals such as vanadium can sustain a stable quantum anomalous Hall effect. We also predict that the quantum valley Hall effect and electrically tunable topological states could be realized in certain transition-metal-doped silicenes where the energy band inversion occurs. These findings provide realistic materials in which topological states could be arbitrarily controlled.     

Quantum spin Hall and quantum valley Hall effects in trilayer graphene and their topological structures

The present study pertains to the trilayer graphene in the presence of spin orbit coupling to probe the quantum spin/valley Hall effect. The spin Chern-number C_s for energy-bands of trilayer graphene having the essence of intrinsic spin–orbit coupling is analytically calculated. We find that for each valley and spin, C_s is three times larger in trilayer graphene as compared to single layer graphene. Since the spin Chern-number corresponds to the number of edge states,consequently the trilayer graphene has edge states, three times more in comparison to single layer graphene. We also study the trilayer graphene in the presence of both electric-field and intrinsic spin–orbit coupling and investigate that the trilayer graphene goes through a phase transition from a quantum spin Hall state to a quantum valley Hall state when the strength of the electric field exceeds the intrinsic spin coupling strength. The robustness of the associated topological bulk-state of the trilayer graphene is evaluated by adding various perturbations such as Rashba spin–orbit(RSO) interaction αR, and exchange-magnetization M. In addition, we consider a theoretical model, where only one of the outer layers in trilayer graphene has the essence of intrinsic spin–orbit coupling, while the other two layers have zero intrinsic spin–orbit coupling.Although the first Chern number is non-zero for individual valleys of trilayer graphene in this model, however, we find that the system cannot be regarded as a topological insulator because the system as a whole is not gaped.     

Manipulation of intrinsic quantum anomalous Hall effect in two-dimensional MoYN2CSCl MXene

Quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) is an innovative topological spintronic phenomenon with dissipationless chiral edge states and attracts rapidly increasing attention. However, it has only been observed in few materials in experiments. Here, according to the first-principles calculations, we report that the MXene MoYN$_{2}$CSCl shows a topologically nontrivial band gap of 37.3~meV, possessing QAHE with a Chern number of $C = 1$, which is induced by band inversion between $ {\rm d}_{xz}$ and ${\rm d}_{yz}$ orbitals. Also, the topological phase transition for the MoYN$_{2}$CSCl can be realized via strain or by turning the magnetization direction. Remarkably, MoYN$_{2}$CSCl shows the nodal-line semimetal state dependent on the electron correlation $U$. Our findings add an experimentally accessible and tunable member to the QAHE family, which stands a chance of enriching the applications in spintronics.     

Current carrying states in the disordered quantum anomalous Hall effect

In a quantum Hall effect, flat Landau levels may be broadened by disorder. However, it has been found that in the thermodynamic limit, all extended (or current carrying) states shrink to one single energy value within each Landau level. On the other hand, a quantum anomalous Hall effect consists of dispersive bands with finite widths. We numerically investigate the picture of current carrying states in this case. With size scaling, the spectrum width of these states in each bulk band still shrinks to a single energy value in the thermodynamic limit, in a power law way. The magnitude of the scaling exponent at the intermediate disorder is close to that in the quantum Hall effects. The number of current carrying states obeys similar scaling rules, so that the density of states of current carrying states is finite. Other states in the bulk band are localized and may contribute to the formation of a topological Anderson insulator.     

Prediction of quantum anomalous Hall effect in CrI3/ScCl2 bilayer heterostructure

Based on first-principles calculations, a two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) bilayer heterostructure consisting of two topologically trivial ferromagnetic (FM) monolayers CrI₃ and ScCl₂ is proposed to realize the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) with a sizable topologically nontrivial band gap of 4.5 meV. Its topological nature is attributed to an interlayer band inversion between the monolayers and critically depends on the symmetry of the stacking configuration. We further demonstrate that the topologically nontrivial band gap can be increased nearly linearly by the application of a perpendicular external pressure and reaches 8.1 meV at 2.7 GPa, and the application of an external out-of-plane electric field can also modulate the band gap and convert the system back to topologically trivial via eliminating the band inversion. An effective model is developed to describe the topological phase evolution in this bilayer heterostructure. This work provides a new candidate system based on 2D vdW materials for realization of potential high-temperature QAHE with considerable controllability.     

Quantum spin Hall effect in a square-lattice model under a uniform magnetic field

We study a toy square-lattice model under a uniform magnetic field. Using the Landauer-Bttiker formula, we calculate the transport properties of the system on a two-terminal, a four-terminal and a six-terminal device. We find that the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect appears in energy ranges where the spin-up and spin-down subsystems have different filling factors. We also study the robustness of the resulting QSH effect and find that it is robust when the Fermi levels of both spin subsystems are far away from the energy plateaus but is fragile when the Fermi level of any spin subsystem is near the energy plateaus. These results provide an example of the QSH effect with a physical origin other than time-reversal (TR) preserving spin-orbit coupling (SOC).     

Photoinduced Weyl semimetal phase and anomalous Hall effect in a three-dimensional topological insulator

Motivated by the fact that Weyl fermions can emerge in a three-dimensional topological insulator on breaking either time-reversal or inversion symmetries, we propose that a topological quantum phase transition to a Weyl semimetal phase occurs under the off-resonant circularly polarized light, in a three-dimensional topological insulator, when the intensity of the incident light exceeds a critical value. The circularly polarized light effectively generates a Zeeman exchange field and a renormalized Dirac mass, which are highly controllable. The phase transition can be exactly characterized by the first Chern number. A tunable anomalous Hall conductivity emerges, which is fully determined by the location of the Weyl nodes in momentum space, even in the doping regime. Our predictions are experimentally realizable through pump-probe angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and raise a new way for realizing Weyl semimetals and quantum anomalous Hall effects.     

Spin Chern numbers and time-reversal-symmetry-broken quantum spin Hall effect

The quantum spin Hall （QSH） effect is considered to be unstable to perturbations violating the time-reversal （TR） symmetry. We review some recent developments in the search of the QSH effect in the absence of the TR symmetry. The possibility to realize a robust QSH effect by artificial removal of the TR symmetry of the edge states is explored. As a useful tool to characterize topological phases without the TR symmetry, the spin-Chern number theory is introduced.     

从磁性掺杂拓扑绝缘体到内禀磁性拓扑绝缘体——通往高温量子反常霍尔效应之路

量子反常霍尔效应被认为是已知的拓扑量子效应中最有希望获得广泛实际应用的一个。阻碍其应用的主要障碍是其很低的实现温度。文章介绍了在磁性拓扑绝缘体中量子反常霍尔效应的机理和决定其实现温度的因素,回顾了过去几年在提高量子反常霍尔效应实现温度方面的研究进展,尤其是最近内禀磁性拓扑绝缘体MnBi₂Te₄的相关工作。在此基础上提出在磁性拓扑绝缘体系统中进一步提高量子反常霍尔效应温度的路线图。

     

Quantum anomalous Hall effect in magnetically modulated topological insulator/normal insulator heterostructures

We theoretically study how magnetic modulation can be used to manipulate the transport properties of heterostructures formed by a thin film of a three-dimensional topological insulator sandwiched between slabs of a normal insulator. Employing the k ? p scheme, in the framework of a continual approach, we argue that electron states of the system are spin-polarized when ultrathin magnetic insertions are incorporated into the film. We demonstrate that (i) the spin-polarization magnitude depends strongly on the magnetic insertion position in the film and (ii) there is the optimal insertion position to realize quantum anomalous Hall effect, which is a function of the material parameters, the film thickness and the topological insulator/normal insulator interface potential. For the heterostructure with a pair of symmetrically placed magnetic insertions, we calculate a phase diagram that shows a series of transitions between distinct quantum regimes of transverse conductivity. We provide consistent interpretation of recent experimental findings in the context of our results.     

二维拓扑绝缘体退相干效应研究

拓扑绝缘体是当前凝聚态物理研究的热点.退相干效应对该体系的影响的研究不仅有重要的理论意义,而且也是实现未来量子器件的不可或缺的前期工作.文章作者从理论上研究了退相干对二维拓扑绝缘体特别是量子自旋霍尔效应的影响.研究结果表明,作为量子自旋霍尔效应的标志的量子化纵向电阻平台对不破坏自旋记忆的退相干效应（普通退相干）不敏感,但却对破坏自旋记忆的退相干效应（自旋退相干）非常敏感.因此,该量子化平台只能在尺寸小于自旋退相干长度的介观样品中存在,从而解释了量子自旋霍尔效应实验中所观测到的结果(见Science ,20     

The stability of the fractional quantum Hall effect in topological insulators

With the recent observation of graphene-like Landau levels at the surface of topological insulators, the possibility of fractional quantum Hall effect, which is a fundamental signature of strong correlations, has become of interest. Some experiments have reported intra-Landau level structure that is suggestive of fractional quantum Hall effect. This paper discusses the feasibility of fractional quantum Hall effect from a theoretical perspective, and argues that while this effect should occur, ideally, in the n=0 and |n|=1 Landau levels, it is ruled out in higher |n| Landau levels. Unlike graphene, the fractional quantum Hall effect in topological insulators is predicted to show an interesting asymmetry between n=1 and n=−1 Landau levels due to spin-orbit coupling.     

二维拓扑绝缘体退相干效应研究

拓扑绝缘体是当前凝聚态物理研究的热点.退相干效应对该体系的影响的研究不仅有重要的理论意义,而且也是实现未来量子器件的不可或缺的前期工作.文章作者从理论上研究了退相干对二维拓扑绝缘体特别是量子自旋霍尔效应的影响.研究结果表明,作为量子自旋霍尔效应的标志的量子化纵向电阻平台对不破坏自旋记忆的退相干效应(普通退相干)不敏感,但却对破坏自旋记忆的退相干效应(自旋退相干)非常敏感.因此,该量子化平台只能在尺寸小于自旋退相干长度的介观样品中存在,从而解释了量子自旋霍尔效应实验中所观测到的结果(见Science,2007,318:766).同时,文章作者还定义了一个新的物理量,即自旋霍尔电阻,并发现该自旋霍尔电阻也有量子化平台.特别是该量子化平台对两种类型的退相干都不敏感.这说明在宏观样品中也能观测到自旋霍尔电阻的量子化平台,因此更能全面地反映量子自旋霍尔效应的拓扑特性.     

Valley-polarized quantum anomalous Hall effect in van der Waals heterostructures based on monolayer jacutingaite family materials

We numerically study the general valley polarization and anomalous Hall effect in van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures based on monolayer jacutingaite family materials Pt₂AX₃ (A = Hg, Cd, Zn; X = S, Se, Te). We perform a systematic study on the atomic, electronic, and topological properties of vdW heterostructures composed of monolayer Pt₂AX₃ and two-dimensional ferromagnetic insulators. We show that four kinds of vdW heterostructures exhibit valley-polarized quantum anomalous Hall phase, i.e., Pt₂HgS₃/NiBr₂, Pt₂HgSe₃/CoBr₂, Pt₂HgSe₃/NiBr₂, and Pt₂ZnS₃/CoBr₂, with a maximum valley splitting of 134.2 meV in Pt₂HgSe₃/NiBr₂ and sizable global band gap of 58.8 meV in Pt₂HgS₃/NiBr₂. Our findings demonstrate an ideal platform to implement applications on topological valleytronics.