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arXiv · 2107.06915

Tunable quantum anomalous Hall octet driven by orbital magnetism in bilayer graphene

Abstract

The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect - a macroscopic manifestation of chiral band topology at zero magnetic field - has only been experimentally realized by magnetic doping of topological insulators (1 - 3) and delicate design of Moire heterostructures (4 - 8). However, the seemingly simple bilayer graphene without magnetic doping or Moire engineering has long been predicted to host competing ordered states with QAH effects (9 - 11). Here, we explore states in bilayer graphene with conductance of 2 e2/h that not only survive down to anomalously small magnetic fields and up to temperatures of 5 K, but also exhibit magnetic hysteresis. Together, the experimental signatures provide compelling evidence for orbital magnetism driven QAH behavior with a Chern number tunable via electric and magnetic fields as well as carrier sign. The observed octet of QAH phases is distinct from previous observations due to its peculiar ferrimagnetic and ferrielectric order that is characterized by quantized anomalous charge, spin, valley, and spin-valley Hall behavior.

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Fabian R. Geisenhof, Felix Winterer, Anna M. Seiler, Jakob Lenz, Tianyi Xu, Fan Zhang, R. Thomas Weitz. 2021-07-14. Tunable quantum anomalous Hall octet driven by orbital magnetism in bilayer graphene. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03849-w

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