Magnetic dead layer at the interface between a Co film and the topological insulator Bi${}_{2}$Se${}_{3}$

Magnetic dead layer at the interface between a Co film and the topological insulator Bi $_{2}$ Se $_{3}$

J. Li, Z. Y. Wang, A. Tan, P.-A. Glans, E. Arenholz, C. Hwang, J. Shi, and Z. Q. Qiu

Phys. Rev. B 86, 054430 – Published 20 August 2012

Abstract

Co films were grown on top of a topological insulator Bi $_{2}$ Se $_{3}$ (111) substrate and studied using magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Both MOKE and XMCD results show that there exists a ∼1.2-nm-thick magnetic dead layer of the Co film; i.e., an ∼1.2-nm Co film at the Co/Bi $_{2}$ Se $_{3}$ (111) interface loses its ferromagnetic order. The Co ferromagnetic order can be completely resumed by inserting a 3-nm Ag layer between the Co and Bi $_{2}$ Se $_{3}$ , indicating that the magnetic dead layer is due to the Co/Bi $_{2}$ Se $_{3}$ interfacial mixing which is supported by the Co $L$ -edge spectroscopy results.

Received 14 June 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.054430

Authors & Affiliations

J. Li¹, Z. Y. Wang², A. Tan¹, P.-A. Glans³, E. Arenholz³, C. Hwang⁴, J. Shi², and Z. Q. Qiu¹

¹Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
²Department of Physics, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, California 94521, USA
³Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
⁴Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-340, Republic of Korea

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Vol. 86, Iss. 5 — 1 August 2012

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