Dimensional Crossover Induced Topological Hall Effect in a Magnetic Topological Insulator

We report transport studies of Mn-doped Bi2Te3 topological insulator (TI) films with accurately controlled thickness grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We find that films thicker than 5 quintuple-layer (QL) exhibit the usual anomalous Hall effect for magnetic TIs. When the thickness is reduced to 4 QL, however, characteristic features associated with the topological Hall effect (THE) emerge. More surprisingly, the THE vanishes again when the film thickness is further reduced to 3 QL. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the coupling between the top and bottom surface states at the dimensional crossover regime stabilizes the magnetic skyrmion structure that is responsible for the THE.
Comment: 4 figures, with supplementary materials, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett