arXiv subjects

Badih A. Assaf

Publications and source records attributed to Badih A. Assaf.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Disorder-driven symmetry suppression by van der Waals planar defects in a magnetic topological insulator

Magnetic topological insulators offer a platform to control electronic topology through magnetic order, yet reliable routes to tune their properties remain limited. Here, we show that ion irradiation allows to modify the magnetic and the topological properties of the van der Waals magnetic topological insulator MnBi$_2$Te$_4$. Using inert ion beams, intrinsic defects are introduced via collision cascades without chemical doping. We identify two distinct regimes. At low fluence, cation antisite disorder leads to a near-complete redistribution of Bi over cation sites while preserving long-range crystallographic order, accompanied by a transition from $p$-type to $n$-type transport. At high fluence, cation-anion intermixing drives the formation of a previously unreported layer-disordered phase characterized by a high density of van der Waals-specific planar defects, including swapped bilayers. Despite significant structural disorder, the system retains partial periodic order up to high displacement levels. Magnetometry and X-ray spectroscopy show that the Mn high-spin state and antiferromagnetic interactions persist, while magnetic anisotropy is strongly reduced. At the same time, the anomalous Hall conductivity is suppressed fivefold, far exceeding the change in magnetization, indicating a direct modification of Berry curvature. These results establish ion irradiation as a means to tune topology through defect engineering and reveal a disorder-driven approach to control symmetry and electronic structure in van der Waals magnetic materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Conductivity scaling of the anomalous Hall effect in the altermagnetic semiconductor α-MnTe

α-MnTe is a prototypical altermagnet exhibiting a strong anomalous Hall effect (AHE), despite having a nearly vanishing magnetization. Lately, sample-to-sample variations of the amplitude of the AHE have raised concerns of a possible defect related origin, especially in thin films. Here, we study the AHE in α-MnTe films grown on SrF2 that have the crystal structure and m'm'm magnetic point group symmetry expected for bulk. By studying the scaling of the AHE with conductivity for those films and previously reported measurements in the literature, we find that sample-to-sample variations are well explained by a scaling law consistent with a hopping origin. Importantly, a comparison with other magnetic semiconductors reveals the colossal amplitude of the AHE of α-MnTe compared to its measured spontaneous magnetization from magnetometry and polarized neutron reflectivity. Our findings address the important fundamental question of the origin of the AHE of α-MnTe and further demonstrate the potential of altermagnets as promising spintronic materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

RHEED pattern classification by a convolutional neural network for the growth of chalcogenide thin films and nanostructures

The use of reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) plays a critical role for in-situ characterization in molecular beam epitaxy, pulsed laser deposition and sputtering. While sensitive to crystal symmetries and morphology, it is used ubiquitously to determine the growth modes of thin films. However, analysis of RHEED patterns depends on skilled experts and is therefore difficult to incorporate into the growth strategy in real-time. The development of machine learning (ML) processes, specifically convolutional neural networks (CNNs), presents a unique opportunity towards real-time RHEED pattern recognition. In this study, we develop a CNN model that can accurately classify four common and distinct RHEED patterns present in chalcogenide thin film growth. Its reached accuracy reached 94.9% for single run and 91.2% when averaged over 20 seeds. Our network is able to distinguish the nucleation of three common growth modes encountered in epitaxy, namely Volmer Weber, Stransky-Krastanov and Frank-van der Merwe, potentially enabling future automation of substrate temperature and shutter control informed by RHEED data. The network is material-agnostic and distinguishes the VW process with greater than 98% accuracy but is somewhat more limited in its ability to properly classify roughening and the initiation of Stransky-Krastanov growth. Our findings show that ML techniques can be successfully implemented even in cases where there is no detailed knowledge of growth chemistry providing an avenue towards real-time incorporation of ML to control nanostructure nucleation and thin film morphology.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

g-Factor Enhanced Upper Critical Field in Superconducting PdTe2 due to Quantum Confinement

The Pauli limiting field of superconductors determines the maximal possible value of magnetic field at which superconductivity remains possible. For weak-coupling superconductors, it is determined by an established relation that can be found by setting the condensation energy equal to the magnetization free energy. The latter is a function of the carrier g-factor. Here, we demonstrate in a van der Waals superconductor PdTe2, that quantum confinement can tune the effective g-factor causing the Pauli limit to become thickness dependent. We experimentally probe the in-plane upper critical field (Hc2||) of PdTe2 at intermediate thicknesses down to 20mK. Hc2|| is enhanced by more than an order of magnitude as the thickness is varied from 50nm down to 19nm. We model its temperature and thickness dependence, revealing that both orbital and spin Zeeman depairing mechanisms impact its value. While the variation of the orbital interaction is expected, our findings reveal how the Zeeman interaction impacts superconductivity in thin films. They aid in the search for mixed and odd pairing superconductivity where an enhancement of Hc2|| can be occasionally associated with those unconventional pairing symmetries.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Spectral analysis of the magneto-optical response in valley polarized Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Se

Since the last century, considerable efforts have been devoted to the study of valley-degenerate narrow gap semiconductors, such as the Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Se alloy. This material possesses band edges at the $L$-points of their Brillouin zone, yielding a valley degeneracy of four. However, in (111)-oriented films, it is still not fully understood how differences between the longitudinal valley, oriented along the growth axis, and the oblique valleys, oriented at an angle with respect to that axis, appear in infrared magneto-optical spectroscopy. In this work, we report a magneto-optical study on this family of alloys, focusing on an anomaly in the interband transition of the absorption strength ratio between longitudinal and oblique valleys under a magnetic field applied along the [111] direction. Based on the Mitchell-Wallis model, we provide a theoretical fit for the experimental transmission data, which quantitatively explains the spectral shape of the data at magnetic fields as high as 35T. In particular, we attribute this anomalous absorption strength variation to the carrier density difference between the two types of valleys as well as the field-dependent multiple-beam interference or the Fabry-Pérot interference. Our analysis also allows for the extraction of the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Interface, bulk and surface structure of heteroepitaxial altermagnetic α-MnTe films grown on GaAs(111)

Epitaxial MnTe films have recently seen a spur of research into their altermagnetic semiconducting properties. However, those properties may be extremely sensitive to structural and chemical modifications. We report a detailed investigation of the synthesis of the altermagnet α-MnTe on GaAs(111) which reveals the bulk defect structure of this material, the mechanism by which it releases strain from the underlying substrate and the impact of oxidation on its surface. X-ray diffraction measurements show that α-MnTe layers with thicknesses spanning 45nm to 640nm acquire lattice parameters different from bulk mostly due to thermal strain caused by the substrate rather than strain from the lattice mismatch. Through high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurement, we then unveil a misfit dislocation array at the interface, revealing the mechanism by which lattice strain is relaxed. TEM also reveals a stacking fault in the bulk, occurring along a glide plane parallel to the interface. The combination of TEM with polarized neutron reflectometry measurements finally reveals the impact of oxidation on the chemistry of the surface of uncapped MnTe. Our findings highlight the subtle role of epitaxy in altering the structure of α-MnTe providing potential opportunities to tune the altermagnetic properties of this material.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Unexpected Tuning of the Anomalous Hall Effect in Altermagnetic MnTe Thin Films

The discovery of an anomalous Hall effect (AHE) sensitive to the magnetic state of antiferromagnets can trigger a new era of spintronics, if materials that host a tunable and strong AHE are identified. Altermagnets are a new class of materials that can under certain conditions manifest a strong AHE, without having a net magnetization. But the ability to control their AHE is still lacking. In this study, we demonstrate that the AHE in altermagnetic α-MnTe grown on GaAs(111) substrates can be "written on-demand" by cooling the material under an in-plane magnetic field. The magnetic field controls the strength and the coercivity of the AHE. Remarkably, this control is unique to α-MnTe grown on GaAs and is absent in α-MnTe grown on SrF2. The tunability that we reveal challenges our current understanding of the symmetry-allowed AHE in this material and opens new possibilities for the design of altermagnetic spintronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Probing Berry curvature in magnetic topological insulators through resonant infrared magnetic circular dichroism

Probing the quantum geometry and topology in condensed matter systems has relied heavily on static electronic transport experiments in magnetic fields. Yet, contact-free optical measurements have rarely been explored. Magnetic dichroism (MCD), the nonreciprocal absorption of circular polarized light, was theoretically linked to the quantized anomalous Hall effect in magnetic insulators and can identify the bands and momenta responsible for the underlying Berry Curvature (BC). Detecting BC through MCD faces two challenges: First, the relevant inter-band transitions usually generate MCD in the infrared (IR) range, requiring large samples with high quality. Second, while most magnetic materials are metallic, the relation between MCD and BC in metals remains unclear. Here, we report the observation of MCD in the IR range along with the anomalous Hall effect in thin film MnBi2Te4. Both phenomena emerge with a field-driven phase transition from an antiferromagnet to a canted ferromagnet. By theoretically relating the MCD to the anomalous Hall effect via BC in a metal, we show that this transition accompanies an abrupt onset of BC, signaling a topological phase transition from a topological insulator to a doped Chern insulator. Our density functional theory calculation suggests the MCD signal mainly originates from an optical transition at the Brillouin zone edge, hinting at a potential new source of BC away from the commonly considered Γ point. Our findings demonstrate a novel experimental approach for detecting BC and identifying the responsible bands and momenta, generally applicable to magnetic materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Evidence of Indium impurity band in superconducting (Sn,In)Te thin films

Sn1-xInxTe has been synthesized and studied recently as a candidate topological superconductor. Its superconducting critical temperature increases with Indium concentration. However, the role of Indium in altering the normal state band structure and generating superconductivity is not well-understood. Here, we explore this question in Sn1-xInxTe (0<x<0.3) thin films, characterized by magneto-transport, infrared transmission and photoemission spectroscopy measurement. We show that Indium is forming an impurity band below the valence band edge which pins the Fermi energy and effectively generates electron doping. An enhanced density-of-states due to this impurity band leads to the enhancement of superconducting transition temperature measured in multiple previous studies. The existence of the In impurity band and the role of In as a resonant impurity should be more carefully considered when discussing the topological nature of Sn1-xInxTe.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Energy gap of topological surface states in proximity to a magnetic insulator

Topological surface-states can acquire an energy gap when time-reversal symmetry is broken by interfacing with a magnetic insulator. This gap has yet to be measured. Such topological-magnetic insulator heterostructures can host a quantized anomalous Hall effect and can allow the control of the magnetic state of the insulator in a spintronic device. In this work, we observe the energy gap of topological surface-states in proximity to a magnetic insulator using magnetooptical Landau level spectroscopy. We measure Pb1-xSnxSe/EuSe heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy exhibiting a record mobility and low Fermi energy. Through temperature dependent measurements and theoretical calculations, we show this gap is likely due to quantum confinement and conclude that the magnetic proximity effect is weak in this system. This weakness is disadvantageous for the realization of the quantum anomalous Hall effect, but favorable for spintronic devices which require the preservation of spin-momentum locking at the Fermi level.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

MBE growth of axion insulator candidate EuIn2As2

The synthesis of thin films of magnetic topological materials is necessary to achieve novel quantized Hall effects and electrodynamic responses. EuIn2As2 is a recently predicted topological axion insulator that has an antiferromagnetic ground state and an inverted band structure, but that has only been synthesized and studied as a single crystal. We report on the synthesis of c-axis oriented EuIn2As2 films on sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. By carefully tuning the substrate temperature during growth, we stabilize the Zintl phase of EuIn2As2 expected to be topologically non-trivial. The magnetic properties of these films reproduce those seen in single crystals, but their resistivity is enhanced when grown at lower temperatures. We additionally find that the magnetoresistance of EuIn2As2 is negative even up to fields as high as 31T. while it is highly anisotropic at low fields, it becomes nearly isotropic at high magnetic fields above 5T. Overall, the transport characteristics of EuIn2As2 appear similar to those of chalcogenide topological insulators, motivating the development of devices to gate tune the Fermi energy and reveal topological features in quantum transport.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Discovery of a high-temperature antiferromagnetic state and transport signatures of exchange interactions in a Bi2Se3/EuSe heterostructure

Spatial confinement of electronic topological surface states (TSS) in topological insulators poses a formidable challenge because TSS are protected by time-reversal symmetry. In previous works formation of a gap in the electronic spectrum of TSS has been successfully demonstrated in topological insulator/magnetic material heterostructures, where ferromagnetic exchange interactions locally lifts the time-reversal symmetry. Here we report an experimental evidence of exchange interaction between a topological insulator Bi2Se3 and a magnetic insulator EuSe. Spin-polarized neutron reflectometry reveals a reduction of the in-plane magnetic susceptibility within a 2 nm interfacial layer of EuSe, and the combination of SQUID magnetometry and Hall measurements points to the formation of an antiferromagnetic layer with at least five-fold enhancement of Néel's temperature. Abrupt resistance changes in high magnetic fields indicate interfacial exchange coupling that affects transport in a TSS. High temperature local control of TSS with zero net magnetization unlocks new opportunities for the design of electronic, spintronic and quantum computation devices, ranging from quantization of Hall conductance in zero fields to spatial localization of non-Abelian excitations in superconducting topological qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Enhanced Dirac node separation in strained Cd3As2 topological semimetal

In topological semimetals, nodes appear at symmetry points in the Brillouin zone as a result of band inversion, and yield quasi-relativistic massless fermions at low energies. Cd3As2 is a three-dimensional topological semimetal that hosts two Dirac cones responsible for a variety of quantum phenomena. In this work, we demonstrate the strain tuning of the Dirac nodes of Cd3As2 through a combination of magnetooptical infrared spectroscopy and high-resolution X-ray diffraction studies performed on epitaxial films. In these thin films, we observe a giant enhancement of the node separation in momentum space by close to a factor of 4. A combination of experimental measurements and theoretical modelling allows relate the origin of this enhancement to a strengthening of the topological band inversion driven by lattice strain. Our results demonstrate how strain can be used as a knob to tune the topological properties of semimetals and to potentially enhance their performance and response for various applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Interaction between interface and massive states in multivalley topological heterostructures

Topological interface states in multivalley systems are studied to unravel their valley sensitivity. For this purpose, multivalley IV-VI topological crystalline insulator (TCI) heterostructures are explored using magneto-optical Landau level spectroscopy up to 34 teslas. We characterize the topological interface states emerging from the distinct L-valleys in Pb1-xSnxSe multi quantum wells grown along the [111] direction. It is shown that the shape of the 2D Fermi surfaces of topological interface states residing at the TCI/trivial insulator interfaces are strongly affected by the valley anisotropy of topologically trivial Pb1-yEuySe barriers. This phenomenon is shown to be due to the deep penetration of the topological interface states into the barriers. For the valleys tilted with respect to the confinement direction, a significant interaction between topological states and the conventional massive quantum well states is observed, evidenced by the resulting large anti-crossings between Landau levels. These are theoretically well-described by a k.p model that takes into account tilt and anisotropy of the valleys in two dimensions. Therefore, our work provides a precise characterization of the topological interface state valley splitting, as well as an accurate determination of the anisotropy of their Dirac cone dispersion.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Observation of coexisting weak localization and superconducting fluctuations in strained Sn1-xInxTe thin films

Topological superconductors have attracted tremendous excitement as they are predicted to host Majorana zero modes that can be utilized for topological quantum computing. Candidate topological superconductor Sn1-xInxTe thin films (0<x<0.3) grown by molecular beam epitaxy and strained in the (111) plane are shown to host three coexisting quantum effects: localization, antilocalization and superconducting fluctuations above the critical temperature Tc. An analysis of the normal state magnetoresistance reveals these effects. Weak localization is consistently observed in superconducting samples, indicating that superconductivity originates dominantly from trivial valence band states that may be strongly spin-orbit split. A large enhancement of the conductivity is observed above Tc, indicating that quantum coherent quasiparticle effects coexist with superconducting fluctuations. Our results motivate a re-examination of the debated pairing symmetry of this material when subjected to quantum confinement and lattice strain.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Fermi level tuning and band alignment in Mn doped InAs/GaSb

InAs/GaSb hosts a broken gap band alignment that has been shown to generate helical topological edge states. Upon the introduction of Mn into the structure, it has been predicted to host a quantized anomalous Hall effect. Here, we show that dilute Mn doping on InAs in InAs/GaSb, allows a tuning of the Fermi level, the introduction of paramagnetism, but also has a non-trivial impact on the band alignment of the system. The measurement of Shubnikov-de-Haas oscillations, cyclotron resonance, and a non-linear Hall effect in Mn-doped samples indicate the coexistence of a high mobility two-dimensional electron gas and a hole gas. Conversely, in undoped InAs/GaSb, pure-n-type transport is observed. We hypothesize that Mn acceptor levels can pin the Fermi energy near the valence band edge of InAs, far from the interface, which introduces a strong band bending to preserve the band offset at the InAs/GaSb interface. The realization of the QAHE in this structure will thus require a careful control of the band alignment to preserve topological insulating character.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Epitaxial growth and magnetic characterization of EuSe thin films with various crystalline orientations

We report different growth modes and corresponding magnetic properties of thin EuSe films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on BaF2, Pb1-xEuxSe, GaAs, and Bi2Se3 substrates. We show that EuSe growth predominantly in (001) orientation on GaAs(111) and Bi2Se3, but along (111) crystallographic direction on BaF2 (111) and Pb1-xEuxSe (111). High-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements reveal an abrupt and highly crystalline interface for both (001) and (111) EuSe films. In agreement with previous studies, ordered magnetic phases include antiferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic, and ferromagnetic phases. In contrast to previous studies, we found strong hysteresis for the antiferromagnetic-ferrimagnetic transition. An ability to grow epitaxial films of EuSe on Bi2Se3 and of Bi2Se3 on EuSe enables further investigation of interfacial exchange interactions between various phases of an insulating metamagnetic material and a topological insulator.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Superconducting and Antiferromagnetic Properties of Dual-Phase V$_3$Ga

The binary compound V$_3$Ga can exhibit two near-equilibrium phases, consisting of the A15 structure that is superconducting, and the Heusler D0$_3$ structure that is semiconducting and antiferromagnetic. Density functional theory calculations show that the two phases are closely degenerate, being separated by only ~10 meV/atom. Magnetization measurements on bulk-grown samples show superconducting behavior below 14 K. These results indicate the possibility of using V$_3$Ga for quantum technology devices utilizing both superconductivity and antiferromagnetism at the same temperature.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗