STM Studies of Spin-Orbit Coupled Phases in Real- and Momentum-Space
- Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)
The recently discovered class of spin-orbit coupled materials with interesting topological character are fascinating both from fundamental as well as application point of view. Two striking examples are 3D topological insulators (TIs) and topological crystalline insulators (TCIs). These materials host linearly dispersing (Dirac like) surface states with an odd number of Dirac nodes and are predicted to carry a quantized half-integer value of the axion field. The non-trivial topological properties of TIs and TCIs arise from strong spin-orbit coupling leading to an inverted band structure; which also leads to the chiral spin texture in momentum space. In this project we used low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) to study materials with topological phases in real- and momentum-space. We studied both single crystals and thin films of topological materials which are susceptible to being tuned by doping, strain or gating, allowing us to explore their physical properties in the most interesting regimes and set the stage for future technological applications. .
- Research Organization:
- Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Contributing Organization:
- Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0008615
- OSTI ID:
- 1349055
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-BOS-0008615; 6173313672
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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