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Laughlin charge pumping in a quantum anomalous Hall insulator

Nature Physics volume 19, pages 333–337 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Adiabatic charge pumping is one of the most salient features of topological phases of matter1,2,3. Laughlin’s charge pumping in a quantum Hall system is the prototypical example4. In analogy, three-dimensional topological insulators have been predicted to support charge pumping through their magnetically gapped surface states5,6,7,8,9,10. But despite its importance as a direct probe of surface Hall conductivity, charge pumping has not been demonstrated in topological-insulator-based systems. Here we report the observation of charge pumping in a thin-film magnetic heterostructure of topological insulators in a geometry that prohibits edge transport. We find that charge pumping occurs between the inner and outer electrodes in response to alternating magnetic fields when the sample is in the quantum anomalous Hall insulator phase. The amount of pumped charge is accounted for by the surface Hall conductivity of half the quantum conductance for each surface, from a comparison with the axion insulator phase that shows no charge pumping. Because charge pumping is closely related to the theoretically predicted topological magnetoelectric effect5,6,7,8,9,10, our observation may provide clues to its direct observation.

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Fig. 1: Adiabatic charge pumping in a Corbino disc sample.
Fig. 2: Observation of charge pumping.
Fig. 3: Frequency dependence of charge pumping.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Akimoto and H. Ikegami for experimental support and I. Belopolski for critical reading of the manuscript. This research project was partly supported by JSPS/MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research nos. 18H03676 (N.N.), 18H01155 (M. Kawamura) and 22H04958 (M. Kawasaki); JST CREST nos. JPMJCR16F1 (M. Kawasaki), JPMJCR1874 (N.N. and Y.T.), JPMJCR19T3 (T.M.) and JPMJCR20T2 (M. Kawamura); and JST PRESTO no. JPMJPR19L9 (T.M.)

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako, Japan

    Minoru Kawamura, Masataka Mogi, Ryutaro Yoshimi, Kei S. Takahashi, Naoto Nagaosa, Masashi Kawasaki & Yoshinori Tokura

  2. Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Masataka Mogi

  3. Department of Applied Physics and Quantum-phase Electronics Center (QPEC), University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Takahiro Morimoto, Naoto Nagaosa, Masashi Kawasaki & Yoshinori Tokura

  4. Institute for Materials Research (IMR), Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    Atsushi Tsukazaki

  5. Tokyo College, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Yoshinori Tokura

Authors
  1. Minoru Kawamura
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Contributions

Y.T. conceived and supervised the project. M.M. and R.Y. fabricated the samples with the help of A.T., K.S.T. and M. Kawasaki. M. Kawamura and R.Y. performed the measurements and analysed the data. T.M. and N.N. contributed to the theoretical discussions. M. Kawamura, T.M., N.N. and Y.T. wrote the manuscript with inputs from all the other authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Minoru Kawamura.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Physics thanks Chris Eckberg, Xufeng Kou and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Notes 1–5 and Figs. 1–4.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 2

Excel table with experimental data shown in the plots.

Source Data Fig. 3

Excel table with experimental data shown in the plots.

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Kawamura, M., Mogi, M., Yoshimi, R. et al. Laughlin charge pumping in a quantum anomalous Hall insulator. Nat. Phys. 19, 333–337 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01888-2

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