Meyerheim, Holger L., Ernst, Arthur, Mohseni, Katayoon, Polyakov, Andrey, Maznichenko Igor, V, Buczek, Pawel A., Coati, Alessandro, Parkin, S. S. P.
Structure and magnetism of EuS on Bi2Se3(0001)
Physica Status Solidi B PREPRINT, (2020)
The rocksalt-type ferromagnetic (FM) insulator EuS (bulkTC = 17 K) grown on Bi2Se3with well-matched (111) plane of the film and (0001) plane of the substrate is studied. The system may feature magnetic proximity effect breaking the time-reversal symmetry and opening a bandgap in the metallic topologically protected surface state of Bi2Se3. The experimental X-ray diffraction studies are combined with ab initio calculations to resolve contradictory results concerning the enhancement of the TC up to 300 K and the degree of induced magnetization in the system. It is concluded that previous studies relied on idealized and unconfirmed structure models. Herein, it is shown by surface X-ray diffraction (SXRD) with ab initio calculations that a two double layer-thick EuS film grows with a sharp interface and without chemical intermixing in a single domain state in an FCC-type stacking on the Bi2Se3(0001) surface in which the topmost layer is metallic, thereby lifting polarity. A large pz-orbital-derived top-layer sulfur magnetic moment of 0.6 μB is found, whereas for europium, μEu = 6.9 μB throughout the film is found. No magnetization within the first Bi2Se3quintuple layer is found. The calculation of the exchange parameters Jij indicates a complex FM and antiferromagnetic ordering between europium and sulfur with a maximum Neel temperature of 226 K.