We report the structural, electronic, and magnetic study of Cr-doped Sb2Te3 thin films grown by a two-step deposition process using molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). The samples were investigated using a variety of complementary techniques, namely, x-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy, SQUID magnetometry, magneto-transport, and polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR). It is found that the samples retain good crystalline order up to a doping level of x = 0.42 (in CrxSb2−xTe3), above which degradation of the crystal structure is observed by XRD. Fits to the recorded XRD spectra indicate a general reduction in the c-axis lattice parameter as a function of doping, consistent with substitutional doping with an ion of smaller ionic radius. The samples show soft ferromagnetic behavior with the easy axis of magnetization being out-of-plane. The saturation magnetization is dependent on the doping level, and reaches from ∼2 μB to almost 3 μB per Cr ion. The transition temperature (Tc) depends strongly on the Cr concentration and is found to increase with doping concentration. For the highest achievable doping level for phasepure films of x = 0.42, a Tc of 125 K was determined. Electric transport measurements find surface-dominated transport below ∼10 K. The magnetic properties extracted from anomalous Hall effect data are in excellent agreement with the magnetometry data. PNR studies indicate a uniform magnetization profile throughout the film, with no indication of enhanced magnetic order towards the sample surface.

Topological insulators (TIs) are bulk insulators with exotic ‘topologically protected’ surface conducting modes. It has recently been pointed out that when stacked together, interactions between surface modes can induce diverse phases including the TI, Dirac semimetal, and Weyl semimetal. However, currently a full experimental understanding of the conditions under which topological modes interact is lacking. Here, working with multilayers of the TI Sb2Te3 and the band insulator GeTe, we provide experimental evidence of multiple topological modes in a single Sb2Te3-GeTe-Sb2Te3 structure. Furthermore, we show that reducing the thickness of the GeTe layer induces a phase transition from a Dirac-like phase to a gapped phase. By comparing different multilayer structures we demonstrate that this transition occurs due to the hybridisation of states associated with different TI films. Our results demonstrate that the Sb2Te3-GeTe system offers strong potential towards manipulating topological states as well as towards controlledly inducing various topological phases.

Strong spin-momentum coupling in topological insulators give rise to topological surface states, protected against disorder scattering by time reversal symmetry. The study of these exotic quantum states not only provides an opportunity to explore fundamental phenomenon in condensed matter physics such as the spin hall effect, but also lays the foundation for applications in quantum computing to spintronics. Conventional electrical measurements suffer from substantial bulk interference, making it difficult to clearly identify topological surface state from the bulk. We use terahertz time-domain spectroscopy to study the temperature-dependent optical behavior of a 23quintuple-thick film of bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) allowing the deconvolution of the surface state response from the bulk. The signatures of the topological surface state at low temperatures (< 30 K) with the optical conductance of Bi2Se3 exhibiting a metallic behavior are observed. Measurement of carrier dynamics, obtain an optical mobility, exceeding 2000 cm 2 /V•s at 4 K, indicative of a surfacedominated response. A scattering lifetime of ~0.18 ps and a carrier density of 6×10 12 cm -2 at 4 K were obtained from the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy measurement. The terahertz conductance spectra reveal characteristic features at ~1.9 THz, attributed to the optical phonon mode, which becomes less prominent with falling temperature. The electrical transport measurements reveal weak antilocalization behavior in our Bi2Se3 sample, consistent with the presence of a topological surface state. Device fabrication and electrical transport:Optical-lithography was used to define a microscale Hall bar of dimensions 1400 µm × 80 µm. This was followed by the deposition of 15 nm Ti and 90 nm Au and a standard lift-off process to obtain ohmic contacts to the mesa. The device was then packaged and measured in a He-3 cryostat with a base temperature of 300 mK. Hall measurements were obtained using an a.c lock-in four-terminal setup with an input current of 1 µA at a frequency of 133 Hz. ASSOCIATED CONTENTSupporting information: XRD and XRR measurements to characterize the quality, phase and thickness of the Bi2Se3 film; field dependence of the longitudinal and Hall resistance measurement at corresponding temperatures; THz time domain response of the (0001)-oriented sapphire substrate at different temperatures.

Ferromagnetic ordering in a topological insulator can break time-reversal symmetry, realizing dissipationless electronic states in the absence of a magnetic field. The control of the magnetic state is of great importance for future device applications. We provide a detailed systematic study of the magnetic state in highly doped CrxSb2−xTe3 thin films using electrical transport, magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements and terahertz time domain spectroscopy, and also report an efficient electric gating of ferromagnetic order using the electrolyte ionic liquid [DEME][TFSI]. Upon increasing the Cr concentration from x = 0.15 to 0.76, the Curie temperature (Tc) was observed to increase by ~5 times to 176 K. In addition, it was possible to modify the magnetic moment by up to 50% with a gate bias variation of just ±3 V, which corresponds to an increase in carrier density by 50%. Further analysis on a sample with x = 0.76 exhibits a clear insulator-metal transition at Tc, indicating the consistency between the electrical and optical measurements. The direct correlation obtained between the carrier density and ferromagnetism - in both electrostatic and chemical doping - using optical and electrical means strongly suggests a carrier-mediated Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida (RKKY) coupling scenario. Our low-voltage means of manipulating ferromagnetism, and consistency in optical and electrical measurements provides a way to realize exotic quantum states for spintronic and low energy magneto-electronic device applications.

Magnetic doping and proximity coupling can open a band gap in a topological insulator (TI) and give rise to dissipationless quantum conduction phenomena. Here, by combining these two approaches, we demonstrate a novel TI superlattice structure that is alternately doped with transition and rare earth elements. An unexpected exchange bias effect is unambiguously confirmed in the superlattice with a large exchange bias field using magneto-transport and magneto-optical techniques. Further, the Curie temperature of the Cr-doped layers in the superlattice is found to increase by 60 K compared to a Cr-doped single-layer film. This result is supported by density-functional-theory calculations, which indicate the presence of antiferromagnetic ordering in Dy:Bi 2 Te 3 induced by proximity coupling to Cr:Sb 2 Te 3 at the interface. This work provides a new pathway to realizing the quantum anomalous Hall effect at elevated temperatures and axion insulator state at zero magnetic field by interface engineering in TI heterostructures.