Dirac states with knobs on: interplay of external parameters and the surface electronic properties of 3D topological insulators

Abstract

Topological insulators are a novel materials platform with high applications potential in fields ranging from spintronics to quantum computation. In the ongoing scientific effort to demonstrate controlled manipulation of their electronic structure by external means, stoichiometric variation and surface decoration are two effective approaches that have been followed. In ARPES experiments, both approaches are seen to lead to electronic band structure changes. Such approaches result in variations of the energy position of bulk and surface-related features and the creation of two-dimensional electron gases.The data presented here demonstrate that a third manipulation handle is accessible by utilizing the amount of illumination a topological insulator surface has been exposed to under typical experimental ARPES conditions. Our results show that this new, third, knob acts on an equal footing with stoichiometry and surface decoration as a modifier of the electronic band structure, and that it is in continuous competition with the latter. The data clearly point towards surface photovoltage and photo-induced desorption as the physical phenomena behind modifications of the electronic band structure under exposure to high-flux photons. We show that the interplay of these phenomena can minimize and even eliminate the adsorbate-related surface band bending on typical binary, ternary and quaternary Bi-based topological insulators. Including the influence of the sample temperature, these data set up a framework for the external control of the electronic band structure in topological insulator compounds in an ARPES setting. Four external knobs are available: bulk stoichiometry, surface decoration, temperature and photon exposure. These knobs can be used in conjunction to tune the band energies near the surface and consequently influence the topological properties of the relevant electronic states.

16 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (40)

• Topological Insulators
• Topological Insulators with Inversion Symmetry
• Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices
• Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface
• First observation of Spin-Momentum Helical Locking in Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3, demonstration of Topological-Order at 300K and a realization of topological-transport-regime
• Spintronics and Pseudospintronics in Graphene and Topological Insulators
• Large bulk resistivity and surface quantum oscillations in the topological insulator Bi2Te2Se
• p-type Bi2Se3 for topological insulator and low temperature thermoelectric applications
• Gate-Voltage Control of Chemical Potential and Weak Anti-localization in Bismuth Selenide
• Topological origin of subgap conductance in insulating bilayer graphene
• Two-dimensional Dirac fermions in a topological insulator: transport in the quantum limit
• A topological insulator surface under strong Coulomb, magnetic and disorder perturbations
• Band structure engineering in (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 ternary topological insulators
• Coexistence of the topological state and a two-dimensional electron gas on the surface of Bi2Se3
• Large tuneable Rashba spin splitting of a two-dimensional electron gas in Bi2Se3
• Bulk Band Gap and Surface State Conduction Observed in Voltage-Tuned Crystals of the Topological Insulator Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• First Principles Studies on 3-Dimentional Strong Topological Insulators: Bi2Te3, Bi2Se3 and Sb2Te3
• Ambipolar Field Effect in Topological Insulator Nanoplates of (BixSb1-x)2Te3
• Surface conduction of topological Dirac electrons in bulk insulating Bi2Se3
• Optimizing the Bi_(2-x)Sb_(x)Te_(3-y)Se_(y) solid solutions to approach the intrinsic topological insulator regime
• Emergent quantum confinement at topological insulator surfaces
• Reactive chemical doping of the $B{i}_{2}S{e}_3$ topological insulator
• Crystal Structure and Chemistry of Topological Insulators
• Direct Evidence for the Dirac-Cone Topological Surface States in Ternary Chalcogenide TlBiSe2
• Observation of a warped helical spin-texture in Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ from circular dichroism angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
• Topological Surface States and Dirac point tuning in ternary Bi2Te2Se class of topological insulators
• Observation of Single Dirac Cone Topological Surface State in Compounds TlBiTe2 and TlBiSe2 from a New Topological Insulator Family
• Rashba spin-splitting control at the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Se3
• Photoemission Spectroscopy of Magnetic and Non-magnetic Impurities on the Surface of the Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ Topological Insulator
• Persistence of Topological Order and Formation of Quantum Well States in Topological Insulators Bi2(Se,Te)3 under Ambient Conditions
• Low carrier concentration crystals of the topological insulator Bi${}_2$Te${}_2$Se
• Simultaneous quantization of bulk conduction and valence states through adsorption of nonmagnetic impurities on Bi2Se3
• Tuning carrier type and density in Bi2Se3 by Ca-doping
• New interpretation of the origin of 2DEG states at the surface of layered topological insulators
• Electric Field Tuning of the Surface Band Structure of Topological Insulator Sb2Te3 Thin Films
• Low carrier concentration crystals of the topological insulator Bi${}_{2-x}$Sb${}_x$Te${}_{3-y}$Se${}_y$: a magnetotransport study
• Direct observation of band bending in topological insulator Bi2Se3
• Photoemission induced gating of topological insulator
• An isolated Dirac cone on the surface of ternary tetradymite-like topological insulators
• Reversible tuning of the surface state in a psuedo-binary Bi2(Te-Se)3 topological insulator

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Experimental evidence of large-gap two-dimensional topological insulator on the surface of ZrTe5
• Work function of bulk-insulating topological insulator Bi2-xSbxTe3-ySey
• Light-Tunable Surface State and Hybridization Gap in Magnetic Topological Insulator MnBi${}_8$Te${}_{13}$
• Band Structure of Topological Insulator BiSbTe1.25Se1.75
• Trigger of the ubiquitous surface band bending in 3D topological insulators
• Comparative study of rare earth hexaborides using high resolution angle-resolved photoemission
• Prominent metallic surface conduction and the singular magnetic response of topological Dirac fermion in three-dimensional topological insulator Bi${}_{1.5}$Sb${}_{0.5}$Te${}_{1.7}$Se${}_{1.3}$
• Angle-resolved and core-level photoemission study of interfacing the topological insulator Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.7Se1.3 with Ag, Nb and Fe
• Metal-insulator transition and tunable Dirac-cone surface state in the topological insulator TlBi1-xSbxTe2 studied by angle-resolved photoemission
• Quantum oscillations of the topological surface states in low carrier concentration crystals of Bi${}_{2-x}$Sb${}_x$Te${}_{3-y}$Se${}_y$
• Spatial Control of Charge Doping in n-Type Topological Insulators
• Converting topological insulators into topological metals within the tetradymite family
• Micro-metric electronic patterning of a topological band structure using a photon beam
• Intrinsic surface dipole in topological insulators
• Observation of Dirac Charge Density Waves in Bi${}_2$Te${}_2$Se