Stanene: A good platform for topological insulator and topological superconductor

Two dimensional (2D) topological insulators (TIs) and topological superconductors (TSCs) have been intensively studied for recent years due to their great potential for dissipationless electron transportation and fault-tolerant quantum computing, respectively. Here we focus on stanene, the tin analogue of graphene, to give a brief review of their development as a candidate for both 2D TI and TSC. Stanene is proposed to be a TI with a large gap of 0.3 eV, and its topological properties are sensitive to various factors, e.g., the lattice constants, chemical functionalization and layer thickness, which offer various methods for phase tunning. Experimentally, the inverted gap and edge states are observed recently, which are strong evidences for TI. In addition, stanene is also predicted to be a time reversal invariant TSC by breaking inversion symmetry, supporting helical Majorana edge modes. The layer-dependent superconductivity of stanene is recently confirmed by both transport and scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. This review gives a detailed introduction to stanene and its topological properties and some prospects are also discussed.     

Superconductivity with two-fold symmetry in topological superconductor Srx Bi2Se3

Topological superconductivity is the quantum condensate of paired electrons with an odd parity of the pairing function. By using a Corbino-shape like electrode configuration, we measure the c-axis resistivity of the recently discovered superconductor SrxBi_2Se_3 with the magnetic field rotating within the basal planes, and find clear evidence of two-fold superconductivity. The Laue diffraction measurements on these samples show that the maximum gap direction is either parallel or perpendicular to the main crystallographic axis. This observation is consistent with the theoretical prediction and strongly suggests that SrxBi_2Se_3 is a topological superconductor.     

铁基超导中拓扑量子态研究进展

铁基超导体和拓扑量子材料是近年来凝聚态物理两个重要的前沿研究方向.铁基超导体中是否能衍生出非平庸的拓扑现象是一个非常有意义的问题.本文从晶体对称性、布里渊区高对称点附近的有效模型以及自旋轨道耦合相互作用三个方面具体分析了铁基超导的电子结构的基本特点.在此基础上,重点阐述铁基超导的正常态、临近超导的长程有序态以及超导态中非平庸的拓扑量子态是如何衍生的;具体介绍了相关的理论模型以及结果,回顾了相关的实验进展,展望了该领域的发展前景.     

铁基超导体Li0.8Fe0.2ODFeSe的红外光谱研究

测量和研究了铁基超导体Li_0.8Fe_0.2ODFeSe单晶的红外光学响应,发现室温下光电导率谱不存在Drude分量,载流子具有非相干输运行为.随着温度降低,Drude分量形成并不断变窄,同时在相应的反射率谱上出现清晰的等离子体边,表明散射率急剧降低.在最低温度,观察到超导能隙形成导致的光谱变化,光电导率谱在160 cm^-1以下受到显著压制.对比FeSe单晶的光谱数据,发现整体的光电导率谱型很相似,但自由载流子的谱重更低,揭示出样品具有更低的载流子浓度.另外还观察到温度变化诱导的谱重由低频向高频区域转移的现象,表明其存在强关联效应.     

In-plane optical spectral weight redistribution in the optimally doped Ba_(0.6)K_(0.4)Fe_2As_2 superconductor

We performed detailed temperature-dependent optical measurements on optimally doped Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 single crystal, We examine the changes of the in-plane optical conductivity spectral weight in the normal state and the evolution of the superconducting condensate in the superconducting state. In the normal state, the low-frequency spectral weight shows a metallic response with an arctan （T） dependence, indicating a T-linear scattering rate behavior for the carriers. A high energy spectral weight transfer associated with the Hund＇s coupling occurs from the low frequencies below 4000 cm^-1 5000 cm^-1 to higher frequencies up to at least 104 cm^-1. Its temperature dependence analysis suggests that the Hund＇s coupling strength is continuously enhanced as the temperature is reduced. In the superconducting state, the FGT sum rule is conserved according to the spectral weight estimation within the conduction bands, only about 40% of the conduction bands participates in the superconducting condensate indicating that Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 is in dirty limit.     

Carrier transport in Bi2Se3 topological insulator slab

Electron transport in Bi₂Se₃ topological insulator slabs is investigated in the thermal activation regime (>50 K) both in the absence (ballistic) and presence of weak and strong acoustic phonon scattering using the non-equilibrium Green function approach. Resistance of the slab is simulated as a function of temperature for a range of slab thicknesses and effective doping in order to gain a handle on how various factors interact and compete to determine the overall resistance of the slab. If the Bi₂Se₃ slab is biased at the Dirac point, resistance is found to display an insulating trend even for strong electron–phonon coupling strength. However, when the Fermi-level lies close to the bulk conduction band (heavy electron doping), phonon scattering can dominate and result in a metallic behavior, although the insulating trend is retained in the limit of ballistic transport. Depending on values of the operating parameters, the temperature dependence of the slab is found to exhibit a remarkably complex behavior, which ranges from insulating to metallic, and includes cases where the resistance exhibits a local maximum, much like the contradictory behaviors seen experimentally in various experiments.     

Reactive chemical doping of the Bi2Se3 topological insulator

Using angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy we studied the evolution of the surface electronic structure of the topological insulator Bi(2)Se(3) as a function of water vapor exposure. We find that a surface reaction with water induces a band bending, which shifts the Dirac point deep into the occupied states and creates quantum well states with a strong Rashba-type splitting. The surface is thus not chemically inert, but the topological state remains protected. The band bending is traced back to Se abstraction, leaving positively charged vacancies at the surface. Because of the presence of water vapor, a similar effect takes place when Bi(2)Se(3) crystals are left in vacuum or cleaved in air, which likely explains the aging effect observed in the Bi(2)Se(3) band structure.     

Photoemission study of iron-based superconductor

The iron-based superconductivity (IBSC) is a great challenge in correlated system. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) provides electronic structure of the IBSCs, the pairing strength, and the order parameter symmetry. Here, we briefly review the recent progress in IBSCs and focus on the results from ARPES. The ARPES study shows the electronic structure of "122", "111", "11", and "122 " families of IBSCs. It has been agreed that the IBSCs are unconventional superconductors in strong coupling region. The order parameter symmetry basically follows s ± form with considerable out-of-plane contribution.     

Controlled Synthesis of a High-Mobility Bi3O2.5Se2 Semiconductor by Oxidation of Bi2Se3 for Fast and Highly Sensitive Photodetectors

The search of new high-mobility two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors is crucial for the development of next-generation photodetectors, since current photodetectors based on single 2D semiconductors usually cannot simultaneously own ultrafast response rate and ultrahigh sensitivity. Here, using a facial method of sequentially oxidizing Bi₂Se₃ at optimal O content, a series of bismuth oxyselenide semiconductors (Bi₃O_2.5Se₂, Bi₂O₂Se, Bi₂SeO₅) with appealing electronic applications are successfully synthesized. The crystal and band structures of a superlattice-free Bi₃O_2.5Se₂ phase are resolved by 3D electron diffraction and density functional theory calculations, showing a unique non-neutral layered structure, moderate band gap, and small effective mass. More importantly, the concept of Bi₂Se₃ + O₂ can be extended to synthesize the superlattice-free Bi₃O_2.5Se₂ ultrathin films by chemical vapor deposition, whose room-temperature mobility can be as high as ≈150 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ based on Hall measurements. The ultrathin Bi₃O_2.5Se₂ photodetectors with a simple device configuration simultaneously own ultrafast response time (≈31 µs), ultrahigh responsivity (≈8 × 10⁴ A/W), and large detectivity (≈8 × 10¹³ Jones). This work not only introduces a facile way to regulate the phase in the bismuth oxyselenide family, but also provides an alternative candidate for ultrafast and ultrasensitive photodetectors.     

High pressure transport properties of the topological insulator Bi2Se3

We report x-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity, and magnetoresistance measurements on Bi2Se3 under high pressure and low temperature conditions. Pressure induces profound changes in both the room temperature value of the electrical resistivity as well as the temperature dependence of the resistivity. Initially, pressure drives Bi2Se3 toward increasingly insulating behavior and then, at higher pressures, the sample appears to enter a fully metallic state coincident with a change in the crystal structure. Within the low pressure phase, Bi2Se3 exhibits an unusual field dependence of the transverse magnetoresistance Δρ(xx) that is positive at low fields and becomes negative at higher fields. Our results demonstrate that pressures below 8 GPa provide a non-chemical means to controllably reduce the bulk conductivity of Bi2Se3.     

Superconducting quantum interference devices made of Sb-doped Bi2Se3 topological insulator nanoribbons

We report the fabrication and characterization of superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) made of Sb-doped Bi₂Se₃ topological insulator (TI) nanoribbon (NR) contacted with PbIn superconducting electrodes. When an external magnetic field was applied along the NR axis, the TI NR exhibited periodic magneto-conductance oscillations, the so-called Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, owing to one-dimensional subbands. Below the superconducting transition temperature of PbIn electrodes, we observed supercurrent flow through TI NR-based SQUID. The critical current periodically modulates with a magnetic field perpendicular to the SQUID loop, revealing that the periodicity corresponds to the superconducting flux quantum. Our experimental observations can be useful to explore Majorana bound states (MBS) in TI NR, promising for developing topological quantum information devices.     

Rashba spin-splitting control at the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Se3

The electronic structure of Bi(2)Se(3) is studied by angle-resolved photoemission and density functional theory. We show that the instability of the surface electronic properties, observed even in ultrahigh-vacuum conditions, can be overcome via in situ potassium deposition. In addition to accurately setting the carrier concentration, new Rashba-like spin-polarized states are induced, with a tunable, reversible, and highly stable spin splitting. Ab initio slab calculations reveal that these Rashba states are derived from 5-quintuple-layer quantum-well states. While the K-induced potential gradient enhances the spin splitting, this may be present on pristine surfaces due to the symmetry breaking of the vacuum-solid interface.     

Surface scattering via bulk continuum states in the 3D topological insulator Bi2Se3

We have performed scanning tunneling microscopy and differential tunneling conductance (dI/dV) mapping for the surface of the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi(2)Se(3). The fast Fourier transformation applied to the dI/dV image shows an electron interference pattern near Dirac node despite the general belief that the backscattering is well suppressed in the bulk energy gap region. The comparison of the present experimental result with theoretical surface and bulk band structures shows that the electron interference occurs through the scattering between the surface states near the Dirac node and the bulk continuum states.     

Theoretical study of influencing factors on the dispersion of bulk band-gap edges and the surface states in topological insulators Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3

The dispersion of the band-gap edge states in bulk topological insulators Bi₂Te₃ and Bi₂Se₃ is considered within density functional theory. The dependences of this dispersion both on the approximation used for an exchange-correlation functional at fixed unit cell parameters and atomic positions and on these parameters and positions that are obtained upon structural relaxation performed using a certain approximated functional are analyzed. The relative position of the Dirac point of topologically protected surface states and the valence band maximum in the surface electronic structure of the topological insulators is discussed.     

Magnetic ordering in Ho‐doped Bi2Te3 topological insulator

We investigate the magnetic properties of Ho‐doped Bi₂Te₃ thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Analysis of the polarized X‐ray absorption spectra at the Ho M₅ absorption edge gives an effective 4f magnetic moment which is ～45% of the Hund's rule ground state value. X‐ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) shows no significant anisotropy, which suggests that the reduced spin moment is not due to the crystal field effects, but rather the presence of non‐magnetic or antiferromagnetic Ho sites. Extrapolating the temperature dependence of the XMCD measured in total electron yield and fluorescence yield mode in a field of 7 T gives a Curie–Weiss temperature of ?_CW ≈ –30 K, which suggests antiferromagnetic ordering, in contrast to the paramagnetic behavior observed with SQUID magnetometry. From the anomaly of the XMCD signal at low temperatures, a Néel temperature T_N between 10 K and 25 K is estimated. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Observation of π Berry phase in quantum oscillations of three‐dimensional Fermi surface in topological insulator Bi2Se3

We report the quantum transport studies on Bi₂Se₃ single crystal with bulk carrier concentration of ～10¹⁹ cm^–3. The Bi₂Se₃ crystal exhibits metallic character, and at low temperatures, the field dependence of resistivity shows clear Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations above 6 T. The analysis of these oscillations through Lifshitz–Kosevich theory reveals a non‐trivial π Berry phase coming from three‐dimensional (3D) Fermi surface, which is a strong signature of Dirac fermions with three‐dimensional dispersion. The large Dingle temperature and non zero slope of Williamson–Hall plot suggest the presence of enhanced local strain field in our system which possibly transforms the regions of topological insulator to 3D Dirac fermion metal state. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Nickel Adsorption on Bi2Se3 Surface

Physics of the Solid State - The effect of the physical adsorption of nickel on a surface of a topological Bi2Se3 insulator on the electronic structure has been studied. The influence of the...     

Spin polarization and transport of surface states in the topological insulators Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 from first principles

We investigate the band dispersion and the spin texture of topologically protected surface states in the bulk topological insulators Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 by first-principles methods. Strong spin-orbit entanglement in these materials reduces the spin polarization of the surface states to ～50% in both cases; this reduction is absent in simple models but of important implications to essentially any spintronic application. We propose a way of controlling the magnitude of spin polarization associated with a charge current in thin films of topological insulators by means of an external electric field. The proposed dual-gate device configuration provides new possibilities for electrical control of spin.