Coherent Topological Transport on the Surface of Bi2Se3

Abstract

The two-dimensional (2D) surface state of the three-dimensional strong topological insulator (STI) is fundamentally distinct from other 2D electron systems in that the Fermi arc encircles an odd number of Dirac points. The TI surface is in the symplectic universality class and uniquely among 2D systems remains metallic and cannot be localized by (time-reversal symmetric) disorder. However, in finite-size samples inter-surface coupling can destroy the topological protection. The question arises: At what size can a thin TI sample be treated as having decoupled topological surface states? We show that weak anti-localization(WAL) is extraordinarily sensitive to sub-meV coupling between top and bottom topological surfaces, and the surfaces of a TI film may be coherently coupled even for thicknesses as large as 12 nm. For thicker films we observe the signature of a true 2D topological metal: perfect weak anti-localization in quantitative agreement with two decoupled surfaces in the symplectic symmetry class.

21 pages 6 figures, including supplementary materials

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• Topological insulators and superconductors
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• A self-consistent theory for graphene transport
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• Strong surface scattering in ultrahigh mobility Bi2Se3 topological insulator crystals
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• Manifestation of Topological Protection in Transport Properties of Epitaxial Bi2Se3 Thin Films
• Rapid Surface Oxidation as a Source of Surface Degradation Factor for Bi2Se3
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• Evidence for electron-electron interaction in topological insulator thin films
• Electron interaction-driven insulating ground state in Bi2Se3 topological insulators in the two dimensional limit
• Tunable Surface Conductivity in Bi2Se3 Revealed in Diffusive Electron Transport
• Rashba spin-splitting control at the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Se3
• Insulating behavior in ultra-thin bismuth selenide field effect transistors
• Weak Localization and Antilocalization in Topological Insulator Thin Films with Coherent Bulk-Surface Coupling
• Weak antilocalization in HgTe quantum wells and topological surface states: Massive versus massless Dirac fermions
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• 2D transport and screening in topological insulator surface states

Cited by in corpus (60)

• Colloquium: Topological Band Theory
• Quantized Faraday and Kerr rotation and axion electrodynamics of a 3D topological insulator
• Room Temperature Electrical Detection of Spin Polarized Currents in Topological Insulators
• Transport Properties of Topological Insulators: Band Bending, Bulk Metal-to-Insulator Transition, and Weak Anti-Localization
• Transport in two-dimensional topological materials: recent developments in experiment and theory
• Tuning bulk and surface conduction in topological Kondo insulator SmB6
• Emergence of decoupled surface transport channels in bulk insulating Bi2Se3 thin films
• Observation of Anderson localization in ultrathin films of three-dimensional topological insulators
• Carrier screening, transport, and relaxation in 3D Dirac semimetals
• Observation of spin-momentum locked surface states in amorphous Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Parallel field magnetoresistance in topological insulator thin films
• Optical evidence of surface state suppression in Bi based topological insulators
• Enhanced electron dephasing in three-dimensional topological insulators
• Experimental evidence and control of the bulk-mediated intersurface coupling in topological insulator Bi2Te2Se nanoribbons
• Signature of a topological phase transition in the Josephson supercurrent through a topological insulator
• Top gating of epitaxial (Bi_{1-x}Sb_x)2Te3 topological insulator thin films
• Gate-tunable transport properties of in-situ capped Bi${}_2$Te${}_3$ topological insulator thin films
• Probing the wavefunction of the surface states in Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ topological insulator: a realistic tight-binding approach
• Conductivity Corrections for Topological Insulators with Spin-Orbit Impurities: A New Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka Formula
• Weak Localization and Antilocalization in Topological Materials with Impurity Spin-Orbit Interactions
• Evidence for exchange Dirac gap in magneto-transport of topological insulator-magnetic insulator heterostructures
• Phase Coherence and Andreev Reflection in Topological Insulator Devices
• Probing topological transitions in HgTe/CdTe quantum wells by magneto-optical measurements
• Tuning insulator-semimetal transitions in 3D topological insulator thin films by inter-surface hybridization and in-plane magnetic fields
• Tunable Coupling between Surface States of a Three-Dimensional Topological Insulator in the Quantum Hall Regime
• Tunable inverse topological heterostructure utilizing $(B{i}_{1-x}I{n}_x{)}_{2}S{e}_3$
• Oxygen-induced in-situ manipulation of the interlayer coupling and exciton recombination in Bi2Se3/MoS2 2D heterostructures
• Quantum Transport in Weyl Semimetal Thin Films in the Presence of Spin-Orbit Coupled Impurities
• Conductivity of two-dimensional narrow gap semiconductors subjected to strong Coulomb disorder
• Magnetotransport in Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ thin films epitaxially grown on Ge(111)
• Weak Antilocalization and Universal Conductance Fluctuations in Bismuth Telluro-Sulfide Topological Insulators
• Disorder effects in topological insulator thin films
• Landau Levels of Topologically-Protected Surface States Probed by Dual-Gated Quantum Capacitance
• Suppression of the Kondo Resistivity Minimum in Magnetic Topological Insulators
• Topological Phase Transition-Induced Tri-Axial Vector Magnetoresistance in (Bi1-xInx)2Se3 Nanodevices
• Phase-coherent transport in catalyst-free vapor phase deposited Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ crystals
• Influence of an anomalous temperature-dependence of the phase coherence length on the conductivity of magnetic topological insulators
• Thin films of a three-dimensional topological insulator in a strong magnetic field: a microscopic study
• Spatially varying electronic dephasing in three dimensional topological insulators
• Anomalous Hall Coulomb drag of massive Dirac fermions
• Signature of surface state coupling in thin films of the topological Kondo insulator SmB${}_6$ from anisotropic magnetoresistance
• Quantum corrections to the magnetoconductivity of surface states in three-dimensional topological insulators
• Observation of long phase-coherence length in epitaxial La-doped CdO thin films
• Transport in topological insulators with bulk-surface coupling: Interference corrections and conductance fluctuations
• Robust Gapless Surface State against Surface Magnetic Impurities on (Bi${}_{0.5}$Sb${}_{0.5}$)${}_2$Te${}_3$ Evidenced by In Situ Magnetotransport Measurements
• Thin film of a topological insulator as a spin Hall insulator
• Conductivity of two-dimensional small gap semiconductors and topological insulators in strong Coulomb disorder
• Evidence of decoupling of surface and bulk states in Dirac semimetal $C{d}_{3}A{s}_2$
• Coulomb drag in topological insulator films
• In-depth Analysis of Anisotropic Magnetoconductance in Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ thin films with electron-electron interaction corrections
• Coulomb drag in topological materials
• Pb-doped p-type Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ thin films via interfacial engineering
• Identifying the fingerprints of topological states by tuning magnetoresistance in a semimetal: the case of topological half-Heusler Pt1-xAuxLuSb
• Anomalously large spin-current voltages on the surface of SmB${}_6$
• Enhanced and stable spin Hall conductivity in a disordered time-reversal and inversion symmetry broken topological insulator thin film
• Topological delocalization and tuning of surface channel separation in Bi2Se2Te Topological Insulator Thin films
• Weak antilocalization in partially relaxed 200-nm HgTe films
• Interplay between surface Dirac and Rashba states specific for topologically nontrivial van der Waals superlattices
• Promoted current-induced spin polarization in inversion symmetry broken topological insulator thin films
• Parallel and series conduction model in Topological Insulators