Magnetic properties of Ni films deposited on MBE grown Bi2Se3 layers

We have investigated the magnetic properties of the Ni films deposited on a GaAs and a Bi2Se3 buffer grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a GaAs (001) substrate. The magnetization measurements at 4 K revealed that the coercivity of the Ni films decreases monotonically with increasing thickness up to 25 nm in both cases. However, the coercivity measured at 4 K was always larger in the Ni film deposited on the surface of Bi2Se3 than in the film deposited on the GaAs. Such enhancement of the coercivity decreases with increasing temperature and film thickness. This suggests that the Bi2Se3 surface alters the magnetic properties of the Ni film. The increase of the coercivity was more serious in an un-capped Ni/Bi2Se3 sample, which showed an exchange bias effect due to the oxidation of the top surface of the Ni film. These observations are important for the investigation of spin dependent phenomena in magnetic systems involving a ferromagnet/topological insulator interface.