Ferroelectric Antiferromagnetic Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator in TwoDimensional van der Waals Materials

TL;DR

This paper presents theoretical evidence that 2D MnBi2Te4 exhibits coupled ferroelectricity, antiferromagnetism, and quantum anomalous Hall effect, enabling potential control of magnetic and topological properties for quantum devices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 2D material, MnBi2Te4, demonstrating simultaneous ferroelectricity, AFM, and QAHE, with properties strongly coupled via van der Waals sliding.

Findings

Coupled ferroelectricity, AFM, and QAHE in 2D MnBi2Te4.

Van der Waals sliding controls the coupling of properties.

Potential for ferroelectric control of magnetic and topological states.

Abstract

Ferroelectricity, anti-ferromagnetism (AFM) and quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) are three fundamental phenomena in the field of condensed matter physics, which could enable the realization of novel devices and thus attracts great attention. Here, we show theoretical evidence that twodimensional (2D) even-layer MnBi2Te4 allows for the simultaneous presence of intercorrelated ferroelectricity, AFM, and QAHE. Importantly, through rational van der Waals sliding, these exotic properties are strongly coupled. Such coupling could demonstrate many distinctive physics, for example, ferroelectric control of itinerant AFM phase and the sign of quantized anomalous Hall plateau.The explored phenomena and mechanism would not only enrich the research in 2D ferroelectricity and topological magnets, but also guide the design of low-consumption high-speed quantum devices.