Electronic standing waves on the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Te3

Abstract

A line defect on a metallic surface induces standing waves in the electronic local density of states (LDOS). Asymptotically far from the defect, the wave number of the LDOS oscillations at the Fermi energy is usually equal to the distance between nesting segments of the Fermi contour, and the envelope of the LDOS oscillations shows a power-law decay as moving away from the line defect. Here, we theoretically analyze the LDOS oscillations close to a line defect on the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Te3, and identify an important pre-asymptotic contribution with wave number and decay characteristics markedly different from the asymptotic contributions. Wave numbers characterizing the pre-asymptotic LDOS oscillations are in good agreement with recent data from scanning tunneling microscopy experiments [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 016401 (2010)].

8 pages, 5 figures; published version

References in corpus (8)

• Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface
• A topological Dirac insulator in a quantum spin Hall phase : Experimental observation of first strong topological insulator
• First direct observation of Spin-textures in Topological Insulators : Spin-resolved ARPES as a probe of topological quantum spin Hall effect and Berry's phase
• Topological Surface States Protected From Backscattering by Chiral Spin Texture
• Transmission of topological surface states through surface barriers
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• Novel Spin-texture on the warped Dirac-cone surface states in topological insulators
• Impact of Step Defects on Surface States of Topological Insulators

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Surface states scattering from a step defect in topological insulator Bi_{2}Te_{3}
• Bulk and surface spin conductivity in topological insulators with hexagonal warping
• Electron beam splitting at topological insulator surface states and a proposal for electronic Goos-Hanchen shift measurement
• Thin film of a topological insulator as a spin Hall insulator
• Anisotropic Fabry-Pérot resonant states confined within nano-steps on the topological insulator surface
• Local density of state oscillations in laterally heterostructured topological insulator-semiconductor systems