Critical Behavior and Universal Signature of an Axion Insulator State

Hailong Li, Hua Jiang, Chui-Zhen Chen, and X. C. Xie
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 156601 – Published 12 April 2021
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Abstract

Recently, the search for an axion insulator state in the ferromagnetic-3D topological insulator (TI) heterostructure and MnBi2Te4 has attracted intense interest. However, its detection remains difficult in experiments. We systematically investigate the disorder-induced phase transition of the axion insulator state in a 3D TI with antiparallel magnetization alignment surfaces. It is found that there exists a 2D disorder-induced phase transition on the surfaces of the 3D TI which shares the same universality class with the quantum Hall plateau to plateau transition. Then, we provide a phenomenological theory which maps the random mass Dirac Hamiltonian of the axion insulator state into the Chalker-Coddington network model. Therefore, we propose probing the axion insulator state by investigating the universal signature of such a phase transition in the ferromagnetic-3D TI heterostructure and MnBi2Te4. Our findings not only show a global phase diagram of the axion insulator state, but also stimulate further experiments to probe it.

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  • Received 6 November 2020
  • Accepted 12 March 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.156601

© 2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Hailong Li1, Hua Jiang2,3, Chui-Zhen Chen2,3,*, and X. C. Xie1,4,5,†

  • 1International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 2School of Physical Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
  • 3Institute for Advanced Study, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
  • 4Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
  • 5CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

  • *czchen@suda.edu.cn
  • xcxie@pku.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 126, Iss. 15 — 16 April 2021

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