Colloquium: Quantum anomalous Hall effect

Cui Zu Chang, Chao Xing Liu, Allan H. Macdonald

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

204 Scopus citations

Abstract

The quantum Hall (QH) effect, quantized Hall resistance combined with zero longitudinal resistance, is the characteristic experimental fingerprint of Chern insulators - topologically nontrivial states of two-dimensional matter with broken time-reversal symmetry. In Chern insulators, nontrivial bulk band topology is expressed by chiral states that carry current along sample edges without dissipation. The quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect refers to QH effects that occur in the absence of external magnetic fields due to spontaneously broken time-reversal symmetry. The QAH effect has now been realized in four different classes of two-dimensional materials: (i) thin films of magnetically (Cr- and/or V-) doped topological insulators in the (Bi,Sb)2Te3 family, (ii) thin films of the intrinsic magnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4, (iii) moiré materials formed from graphene, and (iv) moiré materials formed from transition-metal dichalcogenides. In this Colloquium, the physical mechanisms responsible for each class of QAH insulator are reviewed, with both differences and commonalities highlighted, and potential applications of the QAH effect are commented upon.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number011002
JournalReviews of Modern Physics
Volume95
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2023

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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