Persistent Coherence and Spin-Polarization of Topological Surface States on Topological Insulators

Abstract

Gapless surface states on topological insulators are protected from elastic scattering on non-magnetic impurities which makes them promising candidates for low-power electronic applications. However, for wide-spread applications, these states should remain coherent and significantly spin polarized at ambient temperatures. Here, we studied the coherence and spin-structure of the topological states on the surface of a model topological insulator, Bi2Se3, at elevated temperatures in spin and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We found an extremely weak broadening and essentially no decay of spin polarization of the topological surface state up to room temperature. Our results demonstrate that the topological states on surfaces of topological insulators could serve as a basis for room temperature electronic devices.

5 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (10)

• 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
• Momentum-Resolved Landau-Level Spectroscopy of Dirac Surface State in Bi2Se3
• Transmission of topological surface states through surface barriers
• Spin-orbit interaction effect in the electronic structure of \BiTe \ observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
• Spin Polarization of Photoelectrons from Topological Insulators
• Electron-phonon scattering in topological insulators
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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Ultrafast spin polarization control of Dirac fermions in topological insulators
• Sub-picosecond spin dynamics of excited states in the topological insulator Bi${}_2$Te${}_3$
• Absence of a Proximity Effect in a Topological Insulator on a Cuprate Superconductor: Bi2Se3/Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8
• Anisotropic effect of warping on the lifetime broadening of topological surface states in angle-resolved photoemission from Bi${}_2$Te${}_3$
• Opto-Electronic Characterization of Three Dimensional Topological Insulators
• Tunneling magnetoresistance devices based on topological insulators: Ferromagnet/insulator/topological-insulator junctions employing Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Impact of ultrafast transport on the high-energy states of a photoexcited topological insulator
• Phase diagram and phonon-induced backscattering in topological insulator nanowires
• Voltage-control of damping constant in magnetic-insulator/topological-insulator bilayers
• Fragility of Topology under Electronic Correlations in Iron Chalcogenides