Tunable interaction-induced localization of surface electrons in antidot nanostructured Bi2Te3 thin films

Abstract

Recently, a logarithmic decrease of conductivity has been observed in topological insulators at low temperatures, implying a tendency of localization of surface electrons. Here, we report quantum transport experiments on the topological insulator Bi2Te3 thin films with arrayed antidot nanostructures. With increasing density of the antidots, a systematic decrease is observed in the slope of the logarithmic temperature-dependent conductivity curves, indicating the electron-electron interaction can be tuned by the antidots. Meanwhile, the weak anti-localization effect revealed in magnetoconductivity exhibits an enhanced dominance of electron-electron interaction among decoherence mechanisms. The observation can be understood from an antidot-induced reduction of the effective dielectric constant, which controls the interactions between the surface electrons. Our results clarify the indispensable role of the electron-electron interaction in the localization of surface electrons and indicate the localization of surface electrons in an interacting topological insulator.

arXiv comment27 pages, article+supplemental materials, published in ACS Nano

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Weak antilocalization and localization in disordered and interacting Weyl semimetals
• Towards the manipulation of topological states of matter: A perspective from electron transport
• Low temperature Hall effect in bismuth chalcogenides thin films
• Influence of an anomalous temperature-dependence of the phase coherence length on the conductivity of magnetic topological insulators
• Robust two-dimensional superconductivity and vortex system in Bi2Te3/FeTe heterostructures
• Ambipolar surface state transport in non-metallic stoichiometric Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ crystals
• Anomalous Temperature Dependence of Quantum Correction to the Conductivity of Magnetic Topological Insulators