Dual nature of magnetic dopants and competing trends in topological insulators

TL;DR

This paper investigates how magnetic dopants affect topological insulators, revealing a coexistence of magnetic order and gapless states due to competing effects of gap opening and impurity band formation.

Contribution

It provides atomic-scale mapping of magnetic impurity effects, showing the coexistence of magnetic order and gapless states, challenging previous assumptions.

Findings

Magnetic order and gapless states can coexist in topological insulators.

Magnetic dopants induce a balance between gap opening and impurity band formation.

The electronic and magnetic states in topological insulators are more complex than previously thought.

Abstract

Topological insulators interacting with magnetic impurities have been reported to host several unconventional effects. These phenomena are described within the framework of gapping Dirac quasiparticles due to broken time-reversal symmetry. However, the overwhelming majority of studies demonstrate the presence of a finite density of states near the Dirac point even once Topological insulators become magnetic. Here, we map the response of topological states to magnetic impurities at the atomic scale. We demonstrate that magnetic order and gapless states can coexist. We show how this is the result of the delicate balance between two opposite trends, i.e. gap opening and emergence of a Dirac node impurity band, both induced by the magnetic dopants. Our results evidence a more intricate and rich scenario with respect to the once generally assumed, showing how different electronic and magnetic states may be generated and controlled in this fascinating class of materials.