Exploring the three-dimensional quantum anomalous Hall effect and topological superconductivity in topological insulator heterostructures
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Zhang, Ruoxi
- Graduate Program:
- Physics (PHD)
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 31, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Chaoxing Liu, Major Field Member
Zhiqiang Mao, Major Field Member
Joshua Robinson, Outside Unit & Field Member
Cuizu Chang, Chair of Committee
Moses Chan, Dissertation Advisor
Irina Mocioiu, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies - Keywords:
- quantum anomalous Hall effect
topological superconductivity
molecular-beam epitaxy
Josephson junction - Abstract:
- Topological materials exhibit unique properties that make them robust against local defects and perturbations. These properties stem from the distinctive band structure compared to conventional materials, which are characterized by different topological invariants. In this thesis, we study two phenomena that arise in epitaxial topological insulator (TIs) films/heterostructures. The first phenomenon is the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect. The QAH effect requires no external magnetic field and possesses non-dissipative chiral edge states that are resistant to local disorders. The second phenomenon is the topological superconducting (TSC) states. The TSC state hosts quasiparticle excitations, including Majorana zero modes (MZMs) and chiral Majorana edge modes (CMEMs). These excitations have potential applications in fault-tolerant topological quantum computations. The first experimental observation of the QAH effect was realized in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-grown magnetically doped TI thin films, which offer the advantages of scalability and reproducibility. However, the introduction of magnetic dopants also leads to higher disorder density in TI thin films. To overcome this limitation, we employed MBE-grown magnetically doped TI/TI/magnetically doped TI sandwich heterostructures to separate the magnetic dopants from the TI bulk. By employing this method, we successfully realized high Chern number QAH states, Chern domain walls, and hundred-nanometer-thick QAH samples. These results reveal new phases of matter and the underlying physics of the QAH phase transition induced by interlayer coupling. The second half of the thesis describes our effort in the TSC state in QAH insulators and TIs with induced superconductivity. The first project in this effort focuses on the search for CMEMs, which are predicted to emerge in QAH/superconductor hybrid structures. We examined a prior transport experiment that claimed the realization of CMEMs by measuring the two-terminal resistance. We improved the experimental design by fabricating Josephson junction and tunneling junction devices based on Bi2Te3 and (Bi,Sb)2Te3, and obtained transport results that suggest the dominance of Dirac surface states in vortex generation in the junction area.