Magnetic extension of a topological insulator surface: a novel material platform for the quantum anomalous Hall and topological magnetoelectric effects

An interplay of SOC and intrinsic magnetism is known to give rise to the quantum anomalous Hall and topological magnetoelectric effects under certain conditions. Their realization could open access to low power consumption electronics as well as many fundamental phenomena. Unfortunately, being realized very recently, these effects are only accessible at extremely low temperatures and the lack of appropriate materials that would enable the temperature increase is a most severe challenge. He we present a novel material platform with unique combination of properties that is perfectly suitable for the realization of both effects at elevated temperatures. The key element of the computational material design is a magnetic extension of a topological insulator surface by a thin film of ferromagnetic insulator, which is both structurally and compositionally compatible with the topological insulator [1]. Following this proposal, we suggest a variety of specific systems and discuss their numerous advantages.
[1] M.M. Otrokov, et al. 2D Materials 4, 025082 (2017)