Effect on the Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulator MnBi$_2$Te$_4$ with Sn Doping

Abstract

We thoroughly investigate the effect of nonmagnetic Sn doping on the electronic and magnetic properties of antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi$_2$Te$_4$. We observe that Sn doping reduces the out-of-plane antiferromagnetic (AFM) interactions in MnBi$_2$Te$_4$ up to 68\% of Sn concentration and above the system is found to be paramagnetic. In this way, the anomalous Hall effect observed at a very high field of 7.8 T in MnBi$_2$Te$_4$ is reduced to 2 T with 68\% of Sn doping. Electrical transport measurements suggest that all compositions are metallic in nature, while the low-temperature resistivity is sensitive to the AFM ordering and to the doping-induced disorder. Hall effect study demonstrates that Sn actually dopes electrons into the system, thus, enhancing the electron carrier density almost by two orders at 68\% of Sn. In contrast, SnBi$_2$Te$_4$ is found to be a p-type system. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies show that the topological properties are intact at least up to 55\% of Sn as the Dirac surface states are present in the valance band, but in SnBi$_2$Te$_4$ we are unable to detect the topological states due to heavy hole doping. Overall, Sn doping significantly affects the electronic and magnetic properties of MnBi$_2$Te$_4$.