Quantized topological magnetoelectric effect of the zero-plateau quantum anomalous Hall state

Abstract

Topological magnetoelectric effect in a three-dimensional topological insulator is a novel phenomenon, where an electric field induces a magnetic field in the same direction, with a universal coefficient of proportionality quantized in units of $e^2/2h$. Here we propose that the topological magnetoelectric effect can be realized in the zero-plateau quantum anomalous Hall state of magnetic topological insulators or ferromagnet-topological insulator heterostructure. The finite-size effect is also studied numerically, where the magnetoelectric coefficient is shown to converge to a quantized value when the thickness of topological insulator film increases. We further propose a device setup to eliminate the non-topological contributions from the side surface.

Locations

• arXiv (Cornell University) - View - PDF
• OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) - View
• DataCite API - View
• Physical Review B - View - PDF