The Synthesis of MnBi2Te4 Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulator Single Crystals Through a One-Step Growth Method

MnBi 2 Te 4 has been predicted and observed to be a novel antiferromagnetic topological insulator. However, the melting temperatures of MnBi 2 Te 4 and Bi 2 Te 3 are similar, and they cannot be easily separated. Therefore, single crystal growth techniques need to be optimized. One common method is to grow crystals from a 1:5 mixture of MnTe and Bi 2 Te 3 precursors, but directly mixing Mn, Bi, and Te powders in a stoichiometric ratio has also been implemented experimentally. In this work, we successfully grew high-quality MnBi 2 Te 4 single crystals with a one-step growth method, providing a simpler method and a shorter growth time for high-quality single crystals. The optimized crystal growth condition was using a cooling rate of 0.5 °C/h in the second cooling stage. Different measurements indicated that the synthesized crystals were pure and composed of MnBi 2 Te 4 . Furthermore, magnetotransport measurements showed that the AFM phase transition occurred at T N  = 25.6 K.