We calculate an AC response of the edge states of a two-dimensional topological insulator, which can exchange electrons with a conducting puddle in the bulk of the insulator. This exchange leads to finite corrections to the response of isolated edge states both at low and high frequencies. By comparing these corrections, one may determine the parameters of the puddle.
Charge puddles in the bulk and on the surface of the topological insulator BiSbTeSe$_2$ studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and optical spectroscopy
The bulk electronic properties of compensated topological insulators are strongly affected by the self-organized formation of charge puddles at low temperature, but their response in the microwave frequency range is little studied. We employed broadband impedance spectroscopy up to 5 GHz to address the ac transport properties of well-compensated BiSbTeSe2, where charge puddles are known to form as metallic entities embedded in an insulating host. It turns out that the average puddle size sets the characteristic frequency cut-off in the GHz range, across which the insulating dc behavior is sepa…
2D transport and screening in topological insulator surface states
研究了拓扑绝缘体Bi $_2$ Se $_3$在拓扑保护交叉点附近的表面态的无序效应。接近电荷中性,由环境中的随机带电无序引起的载流子密度的局部波动导致主导这些材料的电子性质的电子和空穴水坑。通过使用随机相位近似计算表面态的极化率,并使用自洽近似确定水坑的特性,我们发现,带不对称性在确定实验测量的量,包括电导率和水坑的自相关长度起着至关重要的作用。
Enhanced electron dephasing in three-dimensional topological insulators
研究电子系统中的退相现象不仅对探索电子系统的基态性质具有重要意义,而且对利用量子相干性进行信息处理也具有重要意义。与传统的金属和半导体相比,目前还不清楚哪种机制是三维(3D)拓扑绝缘体(TI)中电子退相的主要原因。在这里,我们报告使用弱反局域化效应来测量高度可调的(Bi,Sb)$_2$ Te $_3$薄膜的退相速率。由于运输是不同的从体导电制度的表面占主导地位的运输,观察到的退相速率演变从线性温度依赖性的次线性幂律依赖。虽然前者与普通2D系统中常见的奈奎斯特电子-电子相互作用一致,但后者导致在低温下增强的电子退相,并且归因于3D TI中的表面态和局部电荷池之间的耦合。
A key feature of the topological surface state under a magnetic field is the presence of the zeroth Landau level at the zero energy. Nonetheless, it has been challenging to probe the zeroth Landau level due to large electron-hole puddles smearing its energy landscape. Here, by developing ultra-low-carrier density topological insulator Sb$_2$Te$_3$ films, we were able to reach an extreme quantum limit of the topological surface state and uncover a hidden phase at the zeroth Landau level. First, we discovered an unexpected quantum-Hall-to-insulator-transition near the zeroth Landau level. Then, …
Discovery of highly spin-polarized conducting surface states in the strong spin-orbit coupling semiconductor Sb$_2$Se$_3$
大多数具有强自旋-轨道耦合的A $_2$ B $_3$型硫属化物系统,如Bi $_2$ Se $_3$、Bi $_2$ Te $_3$和Sb $_2$ Te $_3$等,是拓扑绝缘体。一个重要的例外是Sb $_2$ Se $_3$,其中拓扑非平凡相被认为在环境条件下是可能的,但是这样的相只能在压力下被检测到存在。在这封信中,我们表明,像Bi $_2$ Se $_3$,Sb $_2$ Se $_3$,显示出高自旋极化电流的产生下介观超导点接触测量点接触Andreev反射光谱。此外,我们观察到一个大的负的和各向异性的磁电阻在Sb $_2$ Se $_3$,当该领域是在基面旋转。然而,与Bi $_2$ Se $_3$不同,在Sb $_2$ Se $_3$的情况下,可以在STM电导成像中获得缺陷周围的显著准粒子干涉(QPI)图案。因此,我们的实验表明,Sb $_2$ Se $_3$在环境条件下是一个规则的带绝缘体,但由于它的高自旋轨道耦合,非平凡的自旋织构存在于表面上,该系统可能处于拓扑绝缘体相的边缘。
We investigate the superradiance effects in three-dimensional topological insulator HgTe with conducting surface states. We demonstrate that the superradiance can be explained using the classical electrodynamic approach. Experiments using the continuous-wave spectroscopy allowed to separate the energy losses in the system into intrinsic and radiation losses, respectively. These results demonstrate that the superradiance effects are not sensitive to the details of the band structure of the material.
Since its discovery as a Kondo insulator 50 years ago, SmB6 recently received a revival of interest due to detection of unexpected quantum oscillations in the insulating state, discovery of disorder-immune bulk transport, and proposals of correlation-driven topological physics. While recent transport results attribute the anomalous low temperature conduction to two-dimensional surface states, important alternatives, such as conduction channel residing in one-dimensional dislocation lines, have not been adequately explored. Here we study SmB6 with scanning microwave impedance microscopy and unc…
The thermoelectric response of 80-nm-thick strained HgTe films of a three-dimensional topological insulator (3D TI) has been studied experimentally. An ambipolar thermopower is observed where the Fermi energy moves from conducting to the valence bulk band. The comparison between theory and experiment shows that the thermopower is mostly due to the phonon drag contribution. In the region where the 2D Dirac electrons coexist with bulk hole states, the Seebeck coefficient is modified due to 2D electron - 3D hole scattering.
Gate-tuned Differentiation of Surface-conducting States in Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.7Se1.3 Topological-insulator Thin Crystals
使用场角,温度和背栅电压依赖性的弱反本地化(WAL)和普遍的电导波动薄Bi 1.5 Sb 0.5 Te 1.7 Se 1.3拓扑绝缘体单晶,结合栅极调谐霍尔电阻率测量,我们可靠地分离的拓扑性质的表面导电体导电和拓扑平凡的表面导电。我们最大限度地减少了晶体中的体传导和背栅调谐费米能级的拓扑底表面带,同时保持顶面不敏感的背栅与最佳晶体厚度?100 nm。我们认为,在相对较低的磁场的载流子的相干扩散运动发生的WAL效应是更重要的比其他运输工具,如Shubnikov-de Hass振荡确认导电的拓扑保护的表面状态。我们的方法提供了一个高度连贯的图片的表面输运性质的TI和一个可靠的手段,调查的基本拓扑性质的表面导电和可能的量子器件的应用相关的动量锁定自旋极化的表面状态。
When time-reversal symmetry is broken on its surface, topological insulators exhibit a magnetoelectric response which is described by axion electrodynamics. A direct consequence of this theory is the appearance of a magnetic field that resembles the one produced by a magnetic image monopole when a point-like electric charge is located near the surface of the material. In this paper we investigate the more realistic problem when the point-like charge is replaced by a finite size sphere at constant potential. We calculate the electromagnetic fields using the potential formulation in a particular…
One of the most fundamental and exotic properties of 3D topological insulators (TIs) is spin-momentum-locking (SML) of their topological surface states (TSSs), promising for potential applications in future spintronics. However, other possible conduction channels, such as a trivial two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with strong Rashba type spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and bulk conducting states that may possess a spin Hall effect (SHE), can coexist in 3D TIs, making determining the origin of the current induced spin polarization (CISP) difficult. In this work, we directly compared the CISP be…
Flat-lens focusing of electrons on the surface of a topological insulator
提出了在三维拓扑绝缘体(如Bi 2 Te 3)的导电表面上实现电子Veselago透镜。这种平面透镜所需的负折射是由于费米面曲率的符号变化,即在足够大的静电势阶跃上从圆形变为雪花状。不需要带间跃迁(如石墨烯)。由于这个原因,并且因为拓扑绝缘体提供了对反向散射的保护,所以电势阶跃能够聚焦宽范围的入射角。我们计算量子干涉图案产生的点源,推广类似的光学计算,包括非圆形费米面(具有非零圆锥常数)的影响。
Disorder enabled band structure engineering of a topological insulator surface
三维拓扑绝缘体是具有$\mathbf{Z}_2$拓扑电子序的块状绝缘体,其产生导电的类光表面态。这些表面电子是非常耐本地化的非磁性无序,并已被采纳为基础的广泛的建议,以实现新的准粒子物种和设备的功能。最近的研究发现,尽管拓扑绝缘体具有抗局域性,但其表面电子可以被缺陷重塑为独特的共振态。在这里,我们使用数值模拟和扫描隧道显微镜的数据表明,这些共振态的意义远远超出了本地化制度通常与杂质带。在模型Bi $_2$ X $_3$(X=Bi,Te)化合物的本征密度下,缺陷共振态被预测为支持扩散电输运的出射电子气产生新的量子基础.
We are honored to dedicate this article to Emmanuel Rashba on the occasion of his 95 birthday. In the ideal disorder-free situation, a two-dimensional band gap insulator has an activation energy for conductivity equal to half the band gap, $Δ$. But transport experiments usually exhibit a much smaller activation energy at low temperature, and the relation between this activation energy and $Δ$ is unclear. Here we consider the temperature-dependent conductivity of a two-dimensional narrow gap semiconductor on a substrate containing Coulomb impurities, mostly focusing on the case when amplitude o…