Atomic-Layer-Controlled Magnetic Orders in MnBi2Te4-Bi2Te3 Topological Heterostructures.

The natural van der Waals superlattice MnBi2Te4-(Bi2Te3)m provides an optimal platform to combine topology and magnetism in one system with minimal structural disorder. Here, we show that this system can harbor both ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) orders and that these magnetic orders can be controlled in two different ways by either varying the Mn-Mn distance while keeping the Bi2Te3/MnBi2Te4 ratio constant or vice versa. We achieve this by creating atomically engineered sandwich structures composed of Bi2Te3 and MnBi2Te4 layers. We show that the AFM order is exclusively determined by the Mn-Mn distance, whereas the FM order depends only on the overall Bi2Te3/MnBi2Te4 ratio regardless of the distance between the MnBi2Te4 layers. Our results shed light on the origins of the AFM and FM orders and provide insights into how to manipulate magnetic orders not only for the MnBi2Te4-Bi2Te3 system but also for other magneto-topological materials.

Resilient Growth of a Highly Crystalline Topological Insulator-Superconductor Heterostructure Enabled by an Ex Situ Nitride Film.

Highly crystalline and easily feasible topological insulator-superconductor (TI-SC) heterostructures are crucial for the development of practical topological qubit devices. The optimal superconducting layer for TI-SC heterostructures should be highly resilient against external contamination and structurally compatible with TIs. In this study, we provide a solution to this challenge by showcasing the growth of a highly crystalline TI-SC heterostructure using refractory TiN (111) as the superconducting layer. This approach can eliminate the need for in situ cleavage or growth. More importantly, the TiN surface shows high resilience against contaminations during air exposure, as demonstrated by the successful recyclable growth of Bi2Se3. Our findings indicate that TI-SC heterostructures based on nitride films are compatible with device fabrication techniques, paving the way to the realization of practical topological qubit devices in the future.

Magneto-optical Effects of an Artificially Layered Ferromagnetic Topological Insulator with a TC of 160 K.

Magnetic topological insulators are a fertile platform for studying the interplay between magnetism and topology. The unique electronic band structure can induce exotic transport and optical properties. However, a comprehensive optical study at both near-infrared and terahertz frequencies has been lacking. Here, we report magneto-optical effects from a heterostructure of a Cr-incorporated topological insulator, CBST. By measuring the magneto-optical Kerr effect, we observe a high temperature ferromagnetic transition (160 K) in the CBST film. We also use time-domain terahertz polarimetry to reveal a terahertz Faraday rotation of 1.5 mrad and a terahertz Kerr rotation of 3.6 mrad at 2 K. The calculated terahertz Hall conductance is 0.42 e2/h. Our work shows the optical responses of an artificially layered magnetic topological insulator, paving the way toward a high-temperature quantum anomalous Hall effect via heterostructure engineering.

Spatial Interactions in Hydrogenated Perovskite Nickelate Synaptic Networks.

A key aspect of how the brain learns and enables decision-making processes is through synaptic interactions. Electrical transmission and communication in a network of synapses are modulated by extracellular fields generated by ionic chemical gradients. Emulating such spatial interactions in synthetic networks can be of potential use for neuromorphic learning and the hardware implementation of artificial intelligence. Here, we demonstrate that in a network of hydrogen-doped perovskite nickelate devices, electric bias across a single junction can tune the coupling strength between the neighboring cells. Electrical transport measurements and spatially resolved diffraction and nanoprobe X-ray and scanning microwave impedance spectroscopic studies suggest that graded proton distribution in the inhomogeneous medium of hydrogen-doped nickelate film enables this behavior. We further demonstrate signal integration through the coupling of various junctions.

Enhanced Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect with an Active Capping Layer.

The quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) was discovered a decade ago but is still not utilized beyond a handful of research groups, due to numerous limitations such as extremely low temperature, electric-field-effect gating requirement, small sample sizes, and environmental aging effect. Here, we present a robust platform that provides effective solutions to these problems. Specifically, on this platform, we observe QAH signatures at record-high temperatures, with a Hall conductance of 1.00 e2/h at 2.0 K, 0.98 e2/h at 4.2 K, and 0.92 e2/h at 10 K, on centimeter-scale substrates, without electric-field-effect gating. The key ingredient is an active CrOx capping layer, which substantially boosts the ferromagnetism while suppressing environmental degradation. With this development, QAHE will now be accessible to much broader applications than before.

Superconducting Fourfold Fe(Te,Se) Film on Sixfold Magnetic MnTe via Hybrid Symmetry Epitaxy.

Epitaxial Fe(Te,Se) thin films have been grown on various substrates but never been grown on magnetic layers. Here we report the epitaxial growth of fourfold Fe(Te,Se) film on a sixfold antiferromagnetic insulator, MnTe. The Fe(Te,Se)/MnTe heterostructure shows a clear superconducting transition at around 11 K, and the critical magnetic field measurement suggests the origin of the superconductivity to be bulk-like. Structural characterizations suggest that the uniaxial lattice match between Fe(Te,Se) and MnTe allows a hybrid symmetry epitaxy mode, which was recently discovered between Fe(Te,Se) and Bi2Te3. Furthermore, the Te/Fe flux ratio during deposition of the Fe(Te,Se) layer is found to be critical for its superconductivity. Now that superconducting Fe(Te,Se) can be grown on two related hexagonal platforms, Bi2Te3 and MnTe, this result opens a new possibility of combining topological superconductivity of Fe(Te,Se) with the rich physics in the intrinsic magnetic topological materials (MnTe)n(Bi2Te3)m family.

Hybrid Symmetry Epitaxy of the Superconducting Fe(Te,Se) Film on a Topological Insulator.

It is challenging to grow an epitaxial 4-fold compound superconductor (SC) on a 6-fold topological insulator (TI) platform due to the stringent lattice-matching requirement. Here, we demonstrate that Fe(Te,Se) can grow epitaxially on a TI (Bi2Te3) layer due to accidental, uniaxial lattice match, which is dubbed as "hybrid symmetry epitaxy". This new growth mode is critical to stabilizing robust superconductivity with TC as high as 13 K. Furthermore, the superconductivity in this FeTe1-xSex/Bi2Te3 system survives in the Te-rich phase with Se content as low as x = 0.03 but vanishes at Se content above x = 0.56, exhibiting a phase diagram that is quite different from that of the conventional Fe(Te,Se) systems. This unique heterostructure platform that can be formed in both TI-on-SC and SC-on-TI sequences opens a route to unprecedented topological heterostructures.

Spacer-Layer-Tunable Magnetism and High-Field Topological Hall Effect in Topological Insulator Heterostructures.

Controlling magnetic order in magnetic topological insulators (MTIs) is a key to developing spintronic applications with MTIs and is commonly achieved by changing the magnetic doping concentration, which inevitably affects the spin-orbit coupling strength and the topological properties. Here, we demonstrate tunable magnetic properties in topological heterostructures over a wide range, from a ferromagnetic phase with a Curie temperature of around 100 K all the way to a paramagnetic phase, while keeping the overall chemical composition the same, by controlling the thickness of nonmagnetic spacer layers between two atomically thin magnetic layers. This work showcases that spacer-layer control is a powerful tool to manipulate magneto-topological functionalities in MTI heterostructures. Furthermore, the interaction between the MTI and the Cr2O3 buffer layers also leads to a robust topological Hall effect surviving up to a record-high 6 T of magnetic field, shedding light on the critical role of interfacial layers in thin-film topological materials.

A Large Anisotropic Enhancement of the Charge Carrier Mobility of Flexible Organic Transistors with Strain: A Hall Effect and Raman Study.

Utilizing the intrinsic mobility-strain relationship in semiconductors is critical for enabling strain engineering applications in high-performance flexible electronics. Here, measurements of Hall effect and Raman spectra of an organic semiconductor as a function of uniaxial mechanical strain are reported. This study reveals a very strong, anisotropic, and reversible modulation of the intrinsic (trap-free) charge carrier mobility of single-crystal rubrene transistors with strain, showing that the effective mobility of organic circuits can be enhanced by up to 100% with only 1% of compressive strain. Consistently, Raman spectroscopy reveals a systematic shift of the low-frequency Raman modes of rubrene to higher (lower) frequencies with compressive (tensile) strain, which is indicative of a reduction (enhancement) of thermal molecular disorder in the crystal with strain. This study lays the foundation of the strain engineering in organic electronics and advances the knowledge of the relationship between the carrier mobility, low-frequency vibrational modes, strain, and molecular disorder in organic semiconductors.

Measurement of the angle dependence of magnetostriction in pulsed magnetic fields using a piezoelectric strain gauge.

We present a high resolution method for measuring magnetostriction in millisecond pulsed magnetic fields at cryogenic temperatures with a sensitivity of 1.11×10-11/Hz . The sample is bonded to a thin piezoelectric plate such that when the sample's length changes, it strains the piezoelectric and induces a voltage change. This method is more sensitive than a fiber-Bragg grating method. It measures two axes simultaneously instead of one. The gauge is small and versatile, functioning in DC and millisecond pulsed magnetic fields. We demonstrate its use by measuring the magnetostriction of Ca3Co1.03Mn0.97O6 single crystals in pulsed magnetic fields. By comparing our data to new and previously published results from a fiber-Bragg grating magnetostriction setup, we confirm that this method detects magnetostriction effects. We also demonstrate the small size and versatility of this technique by measuring angle dependence with respect to the applied magnetic field in a rotator probe in 65 T millisecond pulsed magnetic fields.

Intrinsic Charge Transport across Phase Transitions in Hybrid Organo-Inorganic Perovskites.

Hall effect measurements in CH3 NH3 PbBr3 single crystals reveal that the charge-carrier mobility follows an inverse-temperature power-law dependence, µ ∝ T(-) (γ) , with the power exponent γ = 1.4 ± 0.1 in the cubic phase, indicating an acoustic-phonon-dominated carrier scattering, and γ = 0.5 ± 0.1 in the tetragonal phase, suggesting another dominant mechanism, such as a piezoelectric or space-charge scattering.

Optical Diode Effect at Spin-Wave Excitations of the Room-Temperature Multiferroic BiFeO_{3}.

Multiferroics permit the magnetic control of the electric polarization and the electric control of the magnetization. These static magnetoelectric (ME) effects are of enormous interest: The ability to read and write a magnetic state current-free by an electric voltage would provide a huge technological advantage. Dynamic or optical ME effects are equally interesting, because they give rise to unidirectional light propagation as recently observed in low-temperature multiferroics. This phenomenon, if realized at room temperature, would allow the development of optical diodes which transmit unpolarized light in one, but not in the opposite, direction. Here, we report strong unidirectional transmission in the room-temperature multiferroic BiFeO_{3} over the gigahertz-terahertz frequency range. The supporting theory attributes the observed unidirectional transmission to the spin-current-driven dynamic ME effect. These findings are an important step toward the realization of optical diodes, supplemented by the ability to switch the transmission direction with a magnetic or electric field.

Tuning the metal-insulator crossover and magnetism in SrRuO3 by ionic gating.

Reversible control of charge transport and magnetic properties without degradation is a key for device applications of transition metal oxides. Chemical doping during the growth of transition metal oxides can result in large changes in physical properties, but in most of the cases irreversibility is an inevitable constraint. Here we report a reversible control of charge transport, metal-insulator crossover and magnetism in field-effect devices based on ionically gated archetypal oxide system - SrRuO3. In these thin-film devices, the metal-insulator crossover temperature and the onset of magnetoresistance can be continuously and reversibly tuned in the range 90-250 K and 70-100 K, respectively, by application of a small gate voltage. We infer that a reversible diffusion of oxygen ions in the oxide lattice dominates the response of these materials to the gate electric field. These findings provide critical insights into both the understanding of ionically gated oxides and the development of novel applications.

Terahertz spectroscopy of spin waves in multiferroic BiFeO3 in high magnetic fields.

We have studied the magnetic field dependence of far-infrared active magnetic modes in a single ferroelectric domain BiFeO3 crystal at low temperature. The modes soften close to the critical field of 18.8 T along the [001] (pseudocubic) axis, where the cycloidal structure changes to the homogeneous canted antiferromagnetic state and a new strong mode with linear field dependence appears that persists at least up to 31 T. A microscopic model that includes two Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions and easy-axis anisotropy describes closely both the zero-field spectroscopic modes as well as their splitting and evolution in a magnetic field. The good agreement of theory with experiment suggests that the proposed model provides the foundation for future technological applications of this multiferroic material.

Ultra-flexible solution-processed organic field-effect transistors.

Organic semiconductors might enable new applications in low-cost, light-weight, flexible electronics. To build a solid foundation for these technologies, more fundamental studies of electro-mechanical properties of various types of organic semiconductors are necessary. Here we perform basic studies of charge transport in highly crystalline solution-processed organic semiconductors as a function of applied mechanical strain. As a test bed, we use small molecules crystallized on thin plastic sheets, resulting in high-performance flexible field-effect transistors. These devices can be bent multiple times without degradation to a radius as small as ~200 µm, demonstrating that crystalline solution-processed organic semiconductors are intrinsically highly flexible. This study of electro-mechanical properties suggests that solution-processable organic semiconductors are suitable for applications in flexible electronics, provided that integration with other important technological advances, such as device scalability and low-voltage operation, is achieved in the future.