@article{3059228, title = "Towards microscopic control of the magnetic exchange coupling at the surface of a topological insulator", author = "Rüßmann, P. and Mahatha, S.K. and Sessi, P. and Valbuena, M.A. and Bathon, T. and Fauth, K. and Godey, S. and Mugarza, A. and Kokh, K.A. and Tereshchenko, O.E. and Gargiani, P. and Valvidares, M. and Jiménez, E. and Brookes, N.B. and Bode, M. and Bihlmayer, G. and Blügel, S. and Mavropoulos, P. and Carbone, C. and Barla, A.", journal = "JPhys Materials", year = "2018", volume = "1", number = "1", publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd", doi = "10.1088/2515-7639/aad02a", keywords = "Adatoms; Bismuth compounds; Calculations; Dichroism; Electric insulators; Electronic structure; Exchange coupling; Magnetic couplings; Quantum Hall effect; Quantum theory, Ab initio calculations; Anomalous hall effects; Local electronic structures; Magnetic adatoms; Magnetic exchange; Magnetic exchange coupling; Microscopic control; X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, Topological insulators", abstract = "Magnetically doped topological insulators may produce novel states of electronic matter, where for instance the quantum anomalous Hall effect state can be realized. Pivotal to this goal is a microscopic control over the magnetic state, defined by the local electronic structure of the dopants and their interactions. We report on the magnetic coupling among Mn or Co atoms adsorbed on the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Te3. Our findings uncover the mechanisms of the exchange coupling between magnetic atoms coupled to the topological surface state in strong topological insulators. The combination of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and ab initio calculations reveals that the sign of the magnetic coupling at short adatom-adatom distances is opposite for Mn with respect to Co. For both elements, the magnetic exchange reverses its sign at a critical distance between magnetic adatoms, as a result of the interplay between superexchange, double exchange and Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida interactions. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd" }