Large anomalous Hall effect in ferromagnetic insulator-topological insulator heterostructures

Abstract

We demonstrate the van der Waals epitaxy of the topological insulator compound Bi2Te3 on the ferromagnetic insulator Cr2Ge2Te6. The layers are oriented with (001) Bi2Te3 vertical bar vertical bar(001)Cr2Ge2Te6 and (110)Bi2Te3 vertical bar vertical bar(100)Cr2Ge2Te6. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy indicates the formation of a sharp interface. At low temperatures, bilayers consisting of Bi2Te3 on Cr2Ge2Te6 exhibit a large anomalous Hall effect (AHE). Tilted field studies of the AHE indicate that the easy axis lies along the c-axis of the heterostructure, consistent with magnetization measurements in bulk Cr2Ge2Te6. The 61K Curie temperature of Cr2Ge2Te6 and the use of near-stoichiometric materials may lead to the development of spintronic devices based on the AHE. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.