Spatially resolved Landau level spectroscopy of the topological Dirac cone of bulk-type Sb2Te3(0001): potential fluctuations and quasiparticle lifetime

Abstract

Using low temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we probe the Landau levels of the topologically protected state of Sb2Te3(0001) after in-situ cleavage of a single crystal. Landau levels are visible for magnetic fields B > 2 T at energies, which confirm the Dirac type dispersion including the zeroth Landau level. We find different Dirac velocities for the lower and the upper part of the Dirac cone in reasonable agreement with previous density functional theory data. The Dirac point deduced from the zeroth Landau level shifts by about 40 meV between different areas of the sample indicating long range potential fluctuations. The local potentials are correlated to different local defect densities varying slightly stronger than expected from a statistical distribution. The quasiparticle lifetime deduced from the width of the Landau level peaks decreases close to inversely with the electron energy with respect to the Fermi level. Consequently, we attribute the peak width to a dominating scattering of the hot quasiparticles by electron-electron interaction.

8 pages, 4 figures

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• Gate tunable quantum Hall effects in defect-suppressed Bi2Se3 films
• Real-space effects of a quench in the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model and elusive dynamical appearance of the topological edge states
• Characterizing the chemical potential disorder in the topological insulator (Bi${}_{1-x}$Sb${}_x$)${}_2$Te${}_3$ thin films
• Strong and Weak Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators Probed by Surface Science Methods
• Spectroscopic Characterization of Landau Level Splitting and the Intermediate v = 0 Phase in Bilayer Graphene
• Selective-Area Epitaxy of Bulk-Insulating (Bi${}_x$Sb${}_{1-x}$)${}_2$Te${}_3$ Films and Nanowires by Molecular Beam Epitaxy