Molecular beam epitaxy growth of axion insulator candidate EuIn2As2

The synthesis of thin films of magnetic topological materials is necessary to achieve novel quantized Hall effects and electrodynamic responses. EuIn2As2 is a recently predicted topological axion insulator that has an antiferromagnetic ground state and an inverted band structure, but has only been synthesized and studied as a single crystal. We report on the synthesis of c-axis-oriented EuIn2As2 films on sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. By carefully tuning the substrate temperature during growth, we stabilize the Zintl phase of EuIn2As2 expected to be topologically nontrivial. The magnetic properties of these films reproduce those seen in single crystals, but their resistivity is enhanced when grown at lower temperatures. We additionally find that the magnetoresistance of EuIn2As2 is negative even up to fields as high as 31 T. While it is highly anisotropic at low fields, it becomes nearly isotropic at high magnetic fields above 5 T. Overall, the transport characteristics of EuIn2As2 appear similar to those of chalcogenide topological insulators, motivating the development of devices to gate tune the Fermi energy and reveal topological features in quantum transport.

Automated summary

This study reports on the synthesis of c-axis-oriented EuIn2As2 films using molecular beam epitaxy, and the stabilization of their topologically nontrivial properties by carefully tuning the substrate temperature. The magnetic properties of these films are similar to the single crystal, but their resistivity is enhanced at lower growth temperatures.