Ferromagnetism in vanadium-doped Bi2Se3 topological insulator films

Abstract

With molecular beam epitaxy, we grew uniformly vanadium-doped Bi2Se3 films which exhibit ferromagnetism with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. A systematic study on the magneto-transport properties of the films revealed the crucial role of topological surface states in ferromagnetic coupling. The enhanced ferromagnetism with reduced carrier density can support quantum anomalous Hall phase in the films, though the anomalous Hall resistance is far from quantization due to high carrier density. The topological surface states of films exhibit a gap of ∼180 meV which is unlikely to be magnetically induced but may significantly influence the quantum anomalous Hall effect in the system.