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Title: Independence of topological surface state and bulk conductance in three-dimensional topological insulators

Abstract

The archetypical 3D topological insulators Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3, and Sb2Te3 commonly exhibit high bulk conductivities, hindering the characterization of the surface state charge transport. The optimally doped topological insulators Bi2Te2Se and Bi2-xSbxTe2S, however, allow for such characterizations to be made. Here we report an experimental comparison of the conductance for the topological surface and bulk states in Bi2Te2Se and Bi1.1Sb0.9Te2S, based on temperature-dependent high-pressure measurements. We find that the surface state conductance at low temperature remains constant in the face of orders of magnitude increase in the bulk state conductance, revealing in a straightforward way that the topological surface states and bulk states are decoupled at low temperatures, consistent with theoretical models, and confirming topological insulators to be an excellent venue for studying charge transport in 2D Dirac electron systems.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  3. Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow (Russian Federation)
  4. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). National High Magnetic Field Lab. (MagLab)
  5. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
  6. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China); Songshan Lake Materials Lab., Guangdong (China)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC). Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
OSTI Identifier:
1544710
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-19-26035
Journal ID: ISSN 2397-4648
Grant/Contract Number:  
89233218CNA000001
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
npj Quantum Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 3; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2397-4648
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; High Magnetic Field Science

Citation Formats

Cai, Shu, Guo, Jing, Sidorov, Vladimir A., Zhou, Yazhou, Wang, Honghong, Lin, Gongchang, Wu, Qi, Li, Yanchuan, Li, Xiaodong, Yang, Ke, Li, Aiguo, Hu, Jiangping, Kushwaha, Satya Kumar, Cava, R. J., and Sun, Liling. Independence of topological surface state and bulk conductance in three-dimensional topological insulators. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1038/s41535-018-0134-z.
Cai, Shu, Guo, Jing, Sidorov, Vladimir A., Zhou, Yazhou, Wang, Honghong, Lin, Gongchang, Wu, Qi, Li, Yanchuan, Li, Xiaodong, Yang, Ke, Li, Aiguo, Hu, Jiangping, Kushwaha, Satya Kumar, Cava, R. J., & Sun, Liling. Independence of topological surface state and bulk conductance in three-dimensional topological insulators. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-018-0134-z
Cai, Shu, Guo, Jing, Sidorov, Vladimir A., Zhou, Yazhou, Wang, Honghong, Lin, Gongchang, Wu, Qi, Li, Yanchuan, Li, Xiaodong, Yang, Ke, Li, Aiguo, Hu, Jiangping, Kushwaha, Satya Kumar, Cava, R. J., and Sun, Liling. Fri . "Independence of topological surface state and bulk conductance in three-dimensional topological insulators". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-018-0134-z. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1544710.
@article{osti_1544710,
title = {Independence of topological surface state and bulk conductance in three-dimensional topological insulators},
author = {Cai, Shu and Guo, Jing and Sidorov, Vladimir A. and Zhou, Yazhou and Wang, Honghong and Lin, Gongchang and Wu, Qi and Li, Yanchuan and Li, Xiaodong and Yang, Ke and Li, Aiguo and Hu, Jiangping and Kushwaha, Satya Kumar and Cava, R. J. and Sun, Liling},
abstractNote = {The archetypical 3D topological insulators Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3, and Sb2Te3 commonly exhibit high bulk conductivities, hindering the characterization of the surface state charge transport. The optimally doped topological insulators Bi2Te2Se and Bi2-xSbxTe2S, however, allow for such characterizations to be made. Here we report an experimental comparison of the conductance for the topological surface and bulk states in Bi2Te2Se and Bi1.1Sb0.9Te2S, based on temperature-dependent high-pressure measurements. We find that the surface state conductance at low temperature remains constant in the face of orders of magnitude increase in the bulk state conductance, revealing in a straightforward way that the topological surface states and bulk states are decoupled at low temperatures, consistent with theoretical models, and confirming topological insulators to be an excellent venue for studying charge transport in 2D Dirac electron systems.},
doi = {10.1038/s41535-018-0134-z},
journal = {npj Quantum Materials},
number = 1,
volume = 3,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Fri Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Theory of two-fluid metallicity in superconducting FeSe at high pressure
journal, September 2019


Perfect transmission and Aharanov-Bohm oscillations in topological insulator nanowires with nonuniform cross section
journal, January 2020