# Engineering the breaking of time-reversal symmetry in gate-tunable hybrid ferromagnet/topological insulator heterostructures

## TL;DR

This study demonstrates how breaking time-reversal symmetry in a ferromagnet/topological insulator heterostructure affects surface states, revealing a transition from weak anti-localization to localization and the emergence of an anomalous Hall effect, advancing spintronic device research.

## Contribution

We developed a hybrid heterostructure system to experimentally observe the effects of time-reversal symmetry breaking on topological insulator surface states, including gap opening and anomalous Hall effect.

## Key findings

- Observation of crossover from weak anti-localization to localization.
- Emergence of anomalous Hall effect near the Dirac point.
- Evidence of gap opening due to exchange coupling.

## Abstract

Studying the influence of breaking time-reversal symmetry on topological insulator surface states is an important problem of current interest in condensed matter physics and could provide a route toward proof-of-concept spintronic devices that exploit spin-textured surface states. Here, we develop a new model system for studying the effect of breaking time-reversal symmetry: a hybrid heterostructure wherein a ferromagnetic semiconductor Ga1-xMnxAs, with an out-of-plane component of magnetization, is cleanly interfaced with a three-dimensional topological insulator (Bi,Sb)2(Te,Se)3 by molecular beam epitaxy. Lateral electrical transport in this bilayer is dominated by conduction through the topological insulator whose conductivity is a few orders of magnitude higher than that of the highly resistive ferromagnetic semiconductor with a low Mn concentration. Electrical transport measurements of a top-gated heterostructure device reveal a crossover from weak anti-localization (negative magneto-conductance) to weak localization (positive magneto-conductance) as the temperature is lowered or as the chemical potential approaches the Dirac point. This is accompanied by a systematic emergence of an anomalous Hall effect. These results are interpreted in terms of the opening of a gap at the Dirac point as a result of the exchange coupling between the topological insulator surface state and the ferromagnetic ordering in the Ga1-xMnxAs layer. Our study shows that this hybrid system is well suited to explore topological quantum phenomena and to realize proof-of-concept demonstrations of topological spintronic devices at cryogenic temperatures.