Absence of a Dirac gap in ferromagnetic Cr$_x$(Bi$_{0.1}$Sb$_{0.9}$)$_{2-x}$Te$_3$

TL;DR

This study investigates the surface electronic structure of a magnetic topological insulator and finds no evidence of a large Dirac gap, challenging previous reports and the assumption that magnetism opens a significant gap in such materials.

Contribution

The paper provides spectroscopic evidence that contradicts earlier tunneling studies, showing a gapless surface state in Cr-doped topological insulators.

Findings

No large Dirac gap observed in ARPES measurements.

Potassium doping changes surface state from p-type to n-type.

Surface state remains gapless despite ferromagnetism.

Abstract

Magnetism breaks the time reversal symmetry expected to open a Dirac gap in 3D topological insulators that consequently leads to quantum anomalous Hall effect. The most common approach of inducing ferromagnetic state is by doping magnetic 3$d$ elements into bulk of 3D topological insulators. In Cr$_{0.15}$(Bi$_{0.1}$Sb$_{0.9}$)$_{1.85}$Te$_3$, the material where the quantum anomalous Hall effect was initially discovered at temperatures much lower than the ferromagnetic transition, $T_C$, the scanning tunneling microscopy studies have reported a large Dirac gap $\sim20-100$ meV. The discrepancy between the low temperature of quantum anomalous Hall effect ($\ll T_C$) and large spectroscopic Dirac gaps ($\gg T_C$) found in magnetic topological insulators remains puzzling. Here, we used angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study the surface electronic structure of pristine and potassium doped surface of Cr$_{0.15}$(Bi$_{0.1}$Sb$_{0.9}$)$_{1.85}$Te$_3$. Upon potassium deposition, the $p$-type surface state of pristine sample was turned into an $n$-type, allowing spectroscopic observation of Dirac point. We find a gapless surface state, with no evidence of a large Dirac gap reported in tunneling studies.