Evidence for ferromagnetic coupling at the doped topological insulator / ferrimagnetic insulator interface Evidence for ferromagnetic coupling at the doped topological insulator / ferrimagnetic insulator interface

摘要

One of the major obstacles of the magnetic topological insulators (TIs) impeding their practical use is the low Curie temperature (Tc). Very recently, we have demonstrated the enhancement of the magnetic ordering in Cr-doped Bi2Se3 by means of proximity to the high-Tcferrimagneticinsulator (FMI) Y3Fe5O12 and found a large and rapidly decreasing penetration depth of the proximity effect, suggestive of a different carrier propagation process near the TI surface. Here we further present a study of the interfacial magnetic interaction of this TI/FMI heterostrucutre. The synchrotron-based X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) technique was used to probe the nature of the exchange coupling of the Bi2−xCrxSe3/Y3Fe5O12 interface. We found that the Bi2−xCrxSe3grown on Y3Fe5O12(111) predominately contains Cr3+ cations, and the spin direction of the Cr3+ is aligned parallel to that of tetrahedral Fe3+ of the YIG, revealing a ferromagnetic exchange coupling between the Bi2−xCrxSe3 and the Y3Fe5O12.