Manipulation of the presence of helical surface states of topological insulators using Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}-GeTe superlattices

Journal Article · Mon Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4944050· OSTI ID:22591440

Saito, Yuta; Tominaga, Junji ^[1]

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1. Nanoelectronics Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba Central 4, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8562 (Japan)

Ab initio calculations have predicted a transition between topological insulators and band insulators in superlattices consisting of Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and GeTe, when the periodicity is varied. We examine the amplitude of the weak antilocalization effect to confirm the transition. In agreement with the predictions, robust surface states are present for (Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}){sub 1}(GeTe){sub 2} but absent when the content of the well-known topological insulator Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} is increased as (Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3}){sub 4}(GeTe){sub 2}, manifesting that the electronic coupling in the superlattices affects the emergence of the helical surface states nontrivially.

• OSTI ID: 22591440
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
ANTIMONY TELLURIDES
COUPLING
FORECASTING
GERMANIUM TELLURIDES
PERIODICITY
SUPERLATTICES
SURFACES
TOPOLOGY