High-temperature intrinsic quantum anomalous Hall effect in rare Earth monohalide

Although the quantum anomalous Hall effect was verified in 2013, presently its experimental realization is limited to doped magnetic topological insulators under extremely low temperature, while its theoretical existence is limited within doped or functionalized materials, or heterostructures. Based on first-principles calculations, LaCl and LaBr monolayer and bulk forms, which were fabricated in 1980s (Mattausch et al 1980 Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem. 466 7–22; Araujo and Corbett 1981 Inorg. Chem. 20 3082–6), are both revealed to exhibit intrinsic 2D/3D quantum anomalous Hall effect with energy gaps up to 36 meV. These simple binary compounds are also revealed to be ferromagnets with high Curie temperature, which guarantees that the quantum anomalous Hall effect survives at ambient condictions. Besides holding promise for low-dissipation electronics and quantum computing, this proposal realizes 3D quantum anomalous Hall effect.