Chemical disorder in topological insulators: A route to magnetism tolerant topological surface states

Martínez-Velarte, M. Carmen; Kretz, Bernhard; Moro-Lagares, Maria; Aguirre, Myriam H.; Riedemann, Trevor M.; Lograsso, Thomas A.; Morellon, Luis; Ibarra, M. Ricardo; Garcia-Lekue, Aran; Serrate, David

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b00311

Title: Chemical disorder in topological insulators: A route to magnetism tolerant topological surface states

Journal Article · Tue Jun 13 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Nano Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b00311· OSTI ID:1371898

Martínez-Velarte, M. Carmen ^[1];

^[2]; Moro-Lagares, Maria ^[3];

^[1]; Riedemann, Trevor M. ^[4]; Lograsso, Thomas A. ^[5];

^[1]; Ibarra, M. Ricardo ^[1];

^[6];

^[1]

Univ. of Zaragoza, Zaragoza (Spain); Fundacion Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon (FINA), Zaragoza (Spain)
Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), San Sebastian (Spain)
Univ. of Zaragoza, Zaragoza (Spain)
Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
Ames Lab. and Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), San Sebastian (Spain); IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao (Spain)

Here, we show that the chemical inhomogeneity in ternary three-dimensional topological insulators preserves the topological spin texture of their surface states against a net surface magnetization. The spin texture is that of a Dirac cone with helical spin structure in the reciprocal space, which gives rise to spin-polarized and dissipation-less charge currents. Thanks to the nontrivial topology of the bulk electronic structure, this spin texture is robust against most types of surface defects. However, magnetic perturbations break the time-reversal symmetry, enabling magnetic scattering and loss of spin coherence of the charge carriers. This intrinsic incompatibility precludes the design of magnetoelectronic devices based on the coupling between magnetic materials and topological surface states. We demonstrate that the magnetization coming from individual Co atoms deposited on the surface can disrupt the spin coherence of the carriers in the archetypal topological insulator Bi₂Te₃, while in Bi₂Se₂Te the spin texture remains unperturbed. This is concluded from the observation of elastic backscattering events in quasiparticle interference patterns obtained by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. The mechanism responsible for the protection is investigated by energy resolved spectroscopy and ab initio calculations, and it is ascribed to the distorted adsorption geometry of localized magnetic moments due to Se–Te disorder, which suppresses the Co hybridization with the surface states.

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Research Organization:: Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-07CH11358

OSTI ID:: 1371898

Report Number(s):: IS-J-9336; PII: 2358

Journal Information:: Nano Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 7; ISSN 1530-6984

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 7 works

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Cited By (2)

Nanoscopic diffusion of water on a topological insulator Tamtögl, Anton; Sacchi, Marco; Avidor, Nadav Nature Communications, Vol. 11, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-14064-7	journal	January 2020
Nanoscopic diffusion of water on a topological insulator. Tamtögl, Anton; Sacchi, Marco; Avidor, Nadav Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository https://doi.org/10.17863/cam.48374	text	January 2020

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