Mapping the unconventional orbital texture in topological crystalline insulators

Abstract

The newly discovered topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) harbor a complex band structure involving multiple Dirac cones. These materials are potentially highly tunable by external electric field, temperature or strain and could find future applications in field-effect transistors, photodetectors, and nano-mechanical systems. Theoretically, it has been predicted that different Dirac cones, offset in energy and momentum-space, might harbor vastly different orbital character, a unique property which if experimentally realized, would present an ideal platform for accomplishing new spintronic devices. However, the orbital texture of the Dirac cones, which is of immense importance in determining a variety of materials properties, still remains elusive in TCIs. Here, we unveil the orbital texture in a prototypical TCI Pb${}_{1-x}$Sn${}_x$Se. By using Fourier-transform (FT) scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) we measure the interference patterns produced by the scattering of surface state electrons. We discover that the intensity and energy dependences of FTs show distinct characteristics, which can directly be attributed to orbital effects. Our experiments reveal the complex band topology involving two Lifshitz transitions and establish the orbital nature of the Dirac bands in this new class of topological materials, which could provide a different pathway towards future quantum applications.

References in corpus (7)

• Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface
• Topological Crystalline Insulators
• The space group classification of topological band insulators
• Spin-orbital frustrations and anomalous metallic state in iron-pnictide superconductors
• Transmission of topological surface states through surface barriers
• Anisotropic Energy Gaps of Iron-based Superconductivity from Intra-band Quasiparticle Interference in LiFeAs
• Observation of Topological Crystalline Insulator phase in the lead tin chalcogenide Pb1-xSnxTe material class

Cited by in corpus (51)

• Colloquium: Topological Band Theory
• Temperature induced Lifshitz transition in WTe2
• Superconducting Topological Surface States in Non-centrosymmetric Bulk Superconductor PbTaSe2
• Nodal Arc in Disordered Dirac Fermions: Connection to Non-Hermitian Band Theory
• Probing topological quantum matter with scanning tunnelling microscopy
• Robust spin-polarized midgap states at step edges of topological crystalline insulators
• Atomic Scale Visualization of Quantum Interference on a Weyl Semimetal Surface by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy/Spectroscopy
• Dirac mass generation from crystal symmetry breaking on the surfaces of topological crystalline insulators
• Visualizing "Fermi arcs" in the Weyl semimetal TaAs
• Strain engineering Dirac surface states in heteroepitaxial topological crystalline insulator thin films
• Quantum Coherent Transport in SnTe Topological Crystalline Insulator Thin Films
• Quasi-particle interferences of the Weyl semimetals TaAs and NbP
• Atomic-scale visualization of quasiparticle interference on a type-II Weyl semimetal surface
• Revealing the Empty-State Electronic Structure of Single-Unit-Cell FeSe/SrTiO${}_3$
• Quasiparticle interference on type-I and type-II Weyl semimetal surfaces: a review
• Classification of topological crystalline insulators based on representation theory
• Purely rotational symmetry-protected topological crystalline insulator $\alpha$-Bi4Br4
• Two-dimensional quantum transport of multivalley (111) surface state in topological crystalline insulator SnTe thin films
• Quasiparticle Interference Studies of Quantum Materials
• Alloy engineering of topological semimetal phase transition in MgTa${}_{2-x}$Nb${}_x$N${}_3$
• Interplay of orbital effects and nanoscale strain in topological crystalline insulators
• Spin-orbit scattering visualized in quasiparticle interference
• Topological crystalline insulator states in the Ca${}_2$As family
• Quasiparticle scattering from topological crystalline insulator SnTe (001) surface states
• Surface oxidation and thermoelectric properties of indium-doped tin telluride nanowires
• Orbital Fingerprint of Topological Fermi Arcs in a Weyl Semimetal
• Unexpected superconductivity at nanoscale junctions made on the topological crystalline insulator Pb${}_{0.6}$Sn${}_{0.4}$Te
• Mirror protected Dirac fermions on a Weyl semimetal NbP surface
• Fully gapped superconductivity in In-doped topological crystalline insulator Pb${}_{0.5}$Sn${}_{0.5}$Te
• Universal response of the type-II Weyl semimetals phase diagram
• Impurity screening and stability of Fermi arcs against Coulomband magnetic scattering in a Weyl monopnictide
• Bounds on Nanoscale Nematicity in Single-Layer FeSe/SrTiO${}_3$
• Condition for the emergence of a bulk Fermi arc in disordered Dirac-fermion systems
• Dispersing artifacts in FT-STS: a comparison of set point effects across acquisition modes
• Orbital mapping of energy bands and the truncated spin polarization in three-dimensional Rashba semiconductors
• Hidden spin-orbital texture at the $\bar{\Gamma }$-located valence band maximum of a transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductor
• Topological nature of step edge states on the surface of topological crystalline insulator Pb${}_{0.7}$Sn${}_{0.3}$Se
• A Systematic Investigation of the Coupling between One-Dimensional Edge States of a Topological Crystalline Insulator
• Orbital-dependent quasiparticle scattering interference in 3R-NbS2
• Topological surface states above the Fermi energy in ${\text{Hf}}_2{\text{Te}}_2\text{P}$
• Atomic-ordering-induced quantum phase transition between topological crystalline insulator and Z2 topological insulator
• Tip-induced Superconductivity
• Strain-induced two-dimensional topological crystalline insulator
• Hedgehog spin texture and competing orders associated with strains on the surface of a topological crystalline insulator
• Fingerprints of entangled spin and orbital physics in itinerant ferromagnets via angle resolved $resonant$ photoemission
• Projective Quasiparticle Interference of a Single Scatterer to Analyze the Electronic Band Structure of ZrSiS
• Pseudospin-valve effect on transport in junctions of three-dimensional topological insulator surfaces
• Stability of the X-Y-phase of the two-dimensional C4 point group insulator
• Correlated electrons in a Crystalline Topological insulator
• Delusive chirality and periodic strain pattern in moiré systems
• Proximity-Induced Superconductivity in a Topological Crystalline Insulator