Barrier and finite-size effects on the extension of topological surface states into magnetic insulators

The interplay between magnetic and topological order can give rise to phenomena such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect. The extension of topological surface states into magnetic insulators (MIs) has been proposed as an alternative to using intrinsically magnetic topological insulators (TIs). Here, we theoretically study how this extension of surface states into a magnetic insulator is influenced both by the interface barrier potential separating a topological insulator and a magnetic insulator and by finite-size effects in such structures. We find that the gap in the surface states depends nonmonotonically on the barrier strength. A small, but finite, barrier potential turns out to be advantageous as it permits the surface states to penetrate even further into the MI. Moreover, we find that due to finite-size effects in thin samples, increasing the spin splitting in the MI can actually decrease the gap of the surface states.