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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Hedgehog-like spin texture in Sb-doped MnBi2Te4

Meng Zeng1,*, Shu Mo1,*,†, Ke Zhang2,‡, Yu-Jie Hao1, Yu-Peng Zhu1, Xiang-Rui Liu1, Cheng Zhang2,§, Ming-Yuan Zhu1, Shiv Kumar2,∥ et al.

Takuma Iwata3,4, Koji Miyamoto2, Taichi Okuda2,5, Kenya Shimada2,5, Kenta Kuroda3,4,5, Xiao-Ming Ma6,7,¶, and Chang Liu1,#

  • 1Department of Physics, State Key Laboratory of Quantum Functional Materials, and Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Quantum Science, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
  • 2Hiroshima Synchrotron Radiation Center, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-0046, Japan
  • 3Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
  • 4International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter (WPI-SKCM2), Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
  • 5Research Institute for Semiconductor Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan
  • 6Shenzhen Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China
  • 7International Quantum Academy, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518048, China

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Present address: SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9SS, United Kingdom.
  • ‡Present address: School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 611731, China.
  • §Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
  • ∥Present address: Institute of Microelectronics, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 138634, Singapore.
  • Contact author: maxm3@sustech.edu.cn
  • #Contact author: liuc@sustech.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L032021 – Published 24 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/y9l1-rvtq

Abstract

We employ spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and circular-dichroism angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to systematically investigate the spin texture of Sb-doped MnBi2Te4. Our results display a hedgehog-like spin texture in this system which is signified by reversed-orienting out-of-plane spins at the Dirac gap. Our finding reveals the presence of time-reversal symmetry breaking, implying the possibility for realization of the high-temperature quantum anomalous Hall effect.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L032021– Published 24 July, 2025
  • Received 15 February 2025
  • Accepted 5 June 2025
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