Design of magnetic topological phases in a van der Waals heterostructures

The recent observation of antiferromagnetic topological insulators (AFTIs) provides a promising platform for understanding the interplay between the band topology and magnetic order. Despite this, magnetic topological phases in strongly interacting systems remain largely unexplored. Here, we design a tight-binding model of a van der Waals (vdWs) heterostructure composed of two-dimensional magnets with intrinsic AFM ordering separated by spacer layers, which hosts magnetic symmetry-protected topological phases. We propose a solid-state realization of this model by designing a vdW heterostructure comprised of a 2D magnet monolayer and transition-metal dichalcogenide space layer. Using first-principles calculations, we study the influence of inter-layer coupling, strain and correlations on the magnetic and topological features.