拓扑绝缘体表面态的STM研究

文章主要介绍了利用扫描隧道显微镜对拓扑绝缘体表面态进行的一系列研究工作,包括拓扑绝缘体表面态的电子驻波以及拓扑表面态的朗道量子化现象.这些工作对于拓扑绝缘体基本性质的确立以及深入理解具有十分重要的意义.     

金属薄膜表面化学反应活性中的量子尺寸效应

本文首先简要介绍了金属薄膜的量子尺寸效应及其对表面化学性质的影响,然后对Pb/si体系量子尺寸效应的近期研究进行了综述,最后详细介绍了量子效应对表面化学反应活性的影响.扫描隧道显微镜观察表明:在Pb(111)单晶薄膜表面卜的分子吸附和氧化反应随着薄膜厚度一个原子层一个原子层变化时会出现振荡现象.通过研究薄膜中量子阱态的形成、费米能级处电子态密度的变化与薄膜的表面反应活性之间的关系,我们从实验上直接定量地证明了最子尺寸效应对表面反应活性的调控作用.     

Quantum Anomalous Hall Multilayers Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Quantum anomalous Hall(QAH) effect is a quantum Hall effect that occurs without the need of external magnetic field. A system composed of multiple parallel QAH layers is an effective high Chern number QAH insulator and the key to the applications of the dissipationless chiral edge channels in low energy consumption electronics. Such a QAH multilayer can also be engineered into other exotic topological phases such as a magnetic Weyl semimetal with only one pair of Weyl points. This work reports the first experimental realization of QAH multilayers in the superlattices composed of magnetically doped(Bi,Sb)_2Te_3 topological insulator and Cd Se normal insulator layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The obtained multilayer samples show quantized Hall resistance h/N_e~2, where h is Planck's constant, e is the elementary charge and N is the number of the magnetic topological insulator layers, resembling a high Chern number QAH insulator. The QAH multilayers provide an excellent platform to study various topological states of matter.     

Experimental Realization of an Intrinsic Magnetic Topological Insulator

An intrinsic magnetic topological insulator(TI) is a stoichiometric magnetic compound possessing both inherent magnetic order and topological electronic states. Such a material can provide a shortcut to various novel topological quantum effects but remained elusive experimentally for a long time. Here we report the experimental realization of thin films of an intrinsic magnetic TI, MnBi_2Te_4, by alternate growth of a Bi_2Te_3 quintuple layer and a MnTe bilayer with molecular beam epitaxy. The material shows the archetypical Dirac surface states in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and is demonstrated to be an antiferromagnetic topological insulator with ferromagnetic surfaces by magnetic and transport measurements as well as first-principles calculations. The unique magnetic and topological electronic structures and their interplays enable the material to embody rich quantum phases such as quantum anomalous Hall insulators and axion insulators at higher temperature and in a well-controlled way.     

Two-Step Growth of MgO Films on Sapphire （0001） Substrates by Radio Frequency Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy

We report on the growth of rock salt MgO films on sapphire (0001) substrates by rf plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy.A two-step method,i.e.high temperature epilayer growth after low-temperature buffer layer growth,was adopted to obtain the single crystal MgO film.The epitaxial orientation between the MgO epilayer and the sapphire (0001) substrate was studied by using in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction and ex situ x-ray diffraction,and it is found that the MgO film grows with [111] orientation.The role of the low temperature buffer layer in the improvement of crystal quality of the MgO epilayer is discussed based on the cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy.     

Bi- and Au-Induced Reconstructions on GaAs（001）-2 × 4 Surface

Submonolayer Bi and Au adsorptions on the GaAs（001）-2× 4 surface are investigated by scanning tunnelling microscopy, low energy electron diffraction and first-principles calculations. The 1 ×4 and 3 × 4 reconstructed surface induced by Bi and Au, respectively, are revealed and their structural models are proposed based on experiments and first-principles calculations. Moreover, the validity of the recently proposed generalized electron counting （GEC） model [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 （2006） 126103] is examined in detail by using the two surfaces. The GEC model perfectly explains the structural features, such Bi-1 × 4 surface and the 3x arrangement of four-atom Au as the characteristic short double-line structure in the clusters.     

完全有序的全同金属纳米点阵列的生长与研究

利用分子束外延在半导体Si(111)衬底上第一次成功地制备了尺寸相同、空间分布均匀的金属纳米团簇阵列.文章作者提出的这种“幻数稳定团簇+模板”的方法并不局限于制备某一种金属团簇阵列,且生长出的金属纳米点阵列非常稳定.用扫描隧道显微镜(STM)原位分析结合第一性原理计算,确定了金属纳米点的原子结构以及这些结构的形成机理.     

FeSe/SrTiO3高温超导体中的电子条纹相

单层FeSe/SrTiO₃中的界面超导增强是近年来高温超导领域的重要发现.该体系中SrTiO₃衬底对FeSe的超导增强机制已被广泛研究,其调控作用主要表现为两个方面:电荷掺杂和界面电声耦合.然而,关于FeSe薄膜本身的电子特性研究还不够充分.本文介绍该体系超导增强机制的新进展:FeSe薄膜中的电子条纹相及其与超导的关联.通过扫描隧道显微镜结合分子束外延生长技术,对不同厚度的FeSe薄膜进行了系统研究.我们发现FeSe薄膜中电子倾向于排成条纹状结构,并观测到该条纹相随层厚变化显现出从短程到长程的演化.条纹相是一种电子液晶态,它源于薄层FeSe中被增强的电子关联作用.表面电子掺杂一方面会减弱FeSe薄膜中的电子关联作用,逐渐抑制条纹相;另一方面会诱导超导相变,而剩余的条纹相涨落会对超导电性带来额外增强.我们的结果加深了对低维界面超导体系的认识,也揭示了FeSe薄膜本征的特异性,完善了对FeSe/SrTiO₃超导增强机制的理解.     

拓扑绝缘体薄膜和有限尺寸效应

拓扑绝缘体是近年来发现的一类新的量子材料,已成为凝聚态物理的研究热点领域.厚度仅几纳米的拓扑绝缘体薄膜不但具有奇特的物理性质,而且还是拓扑绝缘体应用于平面器件的基础.文章以Bi2Se3为例,介绍了Bi2Se3家族拓扑绝缘体薄膜的分子束外延生长以及其能带、自旋结构和拓扑性质随层厚的演化.这些结果为人工调控拓扑绝缘体的电子结构和物理性质提供了指导.