Disorder enabled band structure engineering of a topological insulator surface

Abstract

Three dimensional topological insulators are bulk insulators with ${\mathbf{Z}}_2$ topological electronic order that gives rise to conducting light-like surface states. These surface electrons are exceptionally resistant to localization by non-magnetic disorder, and have been adopted as the basis for a wide range of proposals to achieve new quasiparticle species and device functionality. Recent studies have yielded a surprise by showing that in spite of resisting localization, topological insulator surface electrons can be reshaped by defects into distinctive resonance states. Here we use numerical simulations and scanning tunneling microscopy data to show that these resonance states have significance well beyond the localized regime usually associated with impurity bands. At native densities in the model Bi${}_2$X${}_3$ (X=Bi, Te) compounds, defect resonance states are predicted to generate a new quantum basis for an emergent electron gas that supports diffusive electrical transport.

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Cited by in corpus (19)

• Systematics of electronic and magnetic properties in the transition metal doped Sb${}_2$Te${}_3$ quantum anomalous Hall platform
• Efficient Ab Initio Calculations of Electron-Defect Scattering and Defect-Limited Carrier Mobility
• Signatures of Topological Superconductivity in Bulk Insulating Topological Insulator BiSbTe${}_{1.25}$Se${}_{1.75}$ in Proximity with Superconducting NbSe${}_2$
• Spatially varying electronic dephasing in three dimensional topological insulators
• Electrostatical formation of the Majorana quasiparticles in the quantum dot--nanoring structure
• Spectromicroscopic measurement of surface and bulk band structure interplay in a disordered topological insulator
• Connection topology of step edge state bands at the surface of a three dimensional topological insulator
• Robust surface states and coherence phenomena in magnetically alloyed SmB6
• Nature of the Dirac gap modulation and surface magnetic interaction in axion antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi${}_2$Te${}_4$
• Enhanced coherence and decoupled surface states in topological insulators through structural disorder
• Impurity and dispersion effects on the linear magnetoresistance in the quantum limit
• Bound states and controllable currents on Topological Insulator surfaces with extended magnetic defects
• Dirac node engineering and flat bands in doped Dirac materials
• Doping-controlled surface conduction in topological insulators with warping effects
• Non-linear hybrid surface-defect states in defective Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Preservation of Topological Surface States in Millimeter-Scale Transferred Membranes
• Impurity-potential-induced gap at the Dirac point of topological insulators with in-plane magnetization
• Non-local Chemical Potential Modulation in Topological Insulators Via Electric Field Driven Trapped Charge Migration
• Electron scattering in a superlattice of line defects on the surface of topological insulators