Magnetic Proximity Effect in an Antiferromagnetic Insulator/Topological Insulator Heterostructure with Sharp Interface

We report an experimental study of electron transport properties of MnSe/(Bi,Sb)₂Te₃ heterostructures, in which MnSe is an antiferromagnetic insulator, and (Bi,Sb)₂Te₃ is a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI). Strong magnetic proximity effect is manifested in the measurements of the Hall effect and longitudinal resistances. Our analysis shows that the gate voltage can substantially modify the anomalous Hall conductance, which exceeds 0.1 e ²/h at temperature T = 1.6 K and magnetic field μ ₀ H = 5 T, even though only the top TI surface is in proximity to MnSe. This work suggests that heterostructures based on antiferromagnetic insulators provide a promising platform for investigating a wide range of topological spintronic phenomena. (paper)