Spin Response of Electrons on the Surface of a Topological Insulator

Abstract

The surface of a topological insulator hosts a very special form of a quasi-two dimensional metallic system when it is embedded in a topologically trivial medium like the vacuum. The electronic properties of this unusual 2D metal are distinct in many aspects from both the conventional two-dimensional electron gas systems in quantum well heterostructures as well as those of a single layer graphene. In this paper, we study one of these distinct features i.e., the response of the electronic spins to an applied magnetic field perpendicular to the surface. We find an unusual behaviour of the spin magnetization and susceptibility as a function of both the magnetic field and the chemical potential for a generic topological surface. We propose that this behavior could be studied by the recently developed experimental technique called βNMR which is highly sensitive to the surface electron spins. We explain how this technique could be used to probe for spontaneous magnetic ordering caused by magnetic dopants or interactions discussed in the recent literature.

7 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Singular robust room-temperature spin response from topological Dirac fermions
• Observation of Zeeman effect in topological surface state with distinct material dependence
• Modification and Control of Topological Insulator Surface States Using Surface Disorder
• Mass acquisition of Dirac fermions in Cr-doped topological insulator Sb2Te3 films
• Dynamics of domain-wall Dirac fermions on a topological insulator: a chiral fermion beam splitter
• Surface states and local spin susceptibility in doped three-dimensional topological insulators with odd-parity superconducting pairing symmetry
• Particle-Hole Asymmetry in Gapped Topological Insulator Surface States
• Ionic and electronic properties of the topological insulator Bi${}_2$Te${}_2$Se investigated using $\beta$-detected nuclear magnetic relaxation and resonance of ${}^8$Li
• Spin susceptibility of three-dimensional Dirac semimetals
• Landau theory of helical Fermi liquids
• Anomalous nuclear magnetic resonance spectra in Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ nanowires