Fingerprints of Inelastic Transport at the Surface of the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3: Role of Electron-Phonon Coupling

Abstract

We report on electric-field and temperature dependent transport measurements in exfoliated thin crystals of Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ topological insulator. At low temperatures ($<50$ K) and when the chemical potential lies inside the bulk gap, the crystal resistivity is strongly temperature dependent, reflecting inelastic scattering due to the thermal activation of optical phonons. A linear increase of the current with voltage is obtained up to a threshold value at which current saturation takes place. We show that the activated behavior, the voltage threshold and the saturation current can all be quantitatively explained by considering a single optical phonon mode with energy $\hslash \Omega \approx 8$ meV. This phonon mode strongly interacts with the surface states of the material and represents the dominant source of scattering at the surface at high electric fields.

arXiv commentSupplementary Material at: http://journals.aps.org/prl/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.086601/TIPhonon_SM.pdf

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• Surface vibrational modes of the topological insulator Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ observed by Raman spectroscopy
• Anomalous Acoustic Plasmon Mode from Topologically Protected States
• Tunneling Planar Hall Effect in Topological Insulators: Spin-Valves and Amplifiers
• Surface-to-bulk scattering in topological insulator films
• Gate-Tunable Tunneling Resistance in Graphene/Topological Insulator Vertical Junctions
• Tracing the nonequilibrium topological state of Chern insulators
• Probing topological transitions in HgTe/CdTe quantum wells by magneto-optical measurements
• Amorphous Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ structural, electronic, and topological nature by first-principles
• Tunneling in graphene-topological insulator hybrid devices
• Phase transition and anomalous scaling in the quantum Hall transport of topological insulator Sn-Bi1.1Sb0.9Te2S devices
• Femtosecond study of A1g phonons in the strong 3D topological insulators: From pump-probe to coherent control
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• Electron-phonon correlations on spin texture of gapped helical Dirac Fermions
• Coulomb drag in topological insulator films
• Phase diagram and phonon-induced backscattering in topological insulator nanowires
• Coulomb drag in topological materials
• Ultrafast switching of topological invariants by light-driven strain
• High-field charge transport on the surface of Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Influence of Device Geometry on Transport Properties of Topological Insulator Microflakes