Tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films

Abstract Axion was postulated as an elementary particle to solve the strong charge conjugation and parity puzzle, and later axion was also considered to be a possible component of dark matter in the universe. However, the existence of axions in nature has not been confirmed. Interestingly, axions ar...

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Autores principales:	Tongshuai Zhu, Huaiqiang Wang, Haijun Zhang, Dingyu Xing
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials TA401-492 Computer software QA76.75-76.765
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9c2152eef22c43a3a82adaed4d9562d4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9c2152eef22c43a3a82adaed4d9562d42021-12-02T18:46:59ZTunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films10.1038/s41524-021-00589-32057-3960https://doaj.org/article/9c2152eef22c43a3a82adaed4d9562d42021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-021-00589-3https://doaj.org/toc/2057-3960Abstract Axion was postulated as an elementary particle to solve the strong charge conjugation and parity puzzle, and later axion was also considered to be a possible component of dark matter in the universe. However, the existence of axions in nature has not been confirmed. Interestingly, axions arise out of pseudoscalar fields derived from the Chern–Simons theory in condensed matter physics. In antiferromagnetic insulators, the axion field can become dynamical due to spin-wave excitations and exhibits rich exotic phenomena, such as axion polariton. However, antiferromagnetic dynamical axion insulator has yet been experimentally identified in realistic materials. Very recently, MnBi2Te4 was discovered to be an antiferromagnetic topological insulator with a quantized static axion field protected by inversion symmetry $${\mathcal{P}}$$ P and magnetic-crystalline symmetry $${\mathcal{S}}$$ S . Here, we studied MnBi2Te4 films in which both the $${\mathcal{P}}$$ P and $${\mathcal{S}}$$ S symmetries are spontaneously broken and found that substantially enhanced dynamical magnetoelectric effects could be realized through tuning the thickness of MnBi2Te4 films, temperature, or element substitutions. Our results show that thin films of MnBi2Te4 and related compounds could provide a promising material platform to experimentally study axion electrodynamics.Tongshuai ZhuHuaiqiang WangHaijun ZhangDingyu XingNature PortfolioarticleMaterials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materialsTA401-492Computer softwareQA76.75-76.765ENnpj Computational Materials, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-6 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials TA401-492 Computer software QA76.75-76.765
spellingShingle	Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials TA401-492 Computer software QA76.75-76.765 Tongshuai Zhu Huaiqiang Wang Haijun Zhang Dingyu Xing Tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films
description	Abstract Axion was postulated as an elementary particle to solve the strong charge conjugation and parity puzzle, and later axion was also considered to be a possible component of dark matter in the universe. However, the existence of axions in nature has not been confirmed. Interestingly, axions arise out of pseudoscalar fields derived from the Chern–Simons theory in condensed matter physics. In antiferromagnetic insulators, the axion field can become dynamical due to spin-wave excitations and exhibits rich exotic phenomena, such as axion polariton. However, antiferromagnetic dynamical axion insulator has yet been experimentally identified in realistic materials. Very recently, MnBi2Te4 was discovered to be an antiferromagnetic topological insulator with a quantized static axion field protected by inversion symmetry $${\mathcal{P}}$$ P and magnetic-crystalline symmetry $${\mathcal{S}}$$ S . Here, we studied MnBi2Te4 films in which both the $${\mathcal{P}}$$ P and $${\mathcal{S}}$$ S symmetries are spontaneously broken and found that substantially enhanced dynamical magnetoelectric effects could be realized through tuning the thickness of MnBi2Te4 films, temperature, or element substitutions. Our results show that thin films of MnBi2Te4 and related compounds could provide a promising material platform to experimentally study axion electrodynamics.
format	article
author	Tongshuai Zhu Huaiqiang Wang Haijun Zhang Dingyu Xing
author_facet	Tongshuai Zhu Huaiqiang Wang Haijun Zhang Dingyu Xing
author_sort	Tongshuai Zhu
title	Tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films
title_short	Tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films
title_full	Tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films
title_fullStr	Tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films
title_full_unstemmed	Tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films
title_sort	tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator mnbi2te4 films
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/9c2152eef22c43a3a82adaed4d9562d4
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_version_	1718377695113379840

Tunable dynamical magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4 films

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