Connection topology of step edge state bands at the surface of a three dimensional topological insulator

Abstract

Topological insulators in the Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ family manifest helical Dirac surface states that span the topologically ordered bulk band gap. Recent scanning tunneling microscopy measurements have discovered additional states in the bulk band gap of Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ and Bi${}_2$Te${}_3$, localized at one dimensional step edges. Here numerical simulations of a topological insulator surface are used to explore the phenomenology of edge state formation at the single-quintuple-layer step defects found ubiquitously on these materials. The modeled one dimensional edge states are found to exhibit a stable topological connection to the two dimensional surface state Dirac point.

arXiv commentText and two appendices (4+3 figures)

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Cited by in corpus (7)

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• Bound states and controllable currents on Topological Insulator surfaces with extended magnetic defects
• Interplay between Topological States and Rashba States as Manifested on Surface Steps at Room Temperature
• Experimental Observation of Bound States of 2D Dirac Electrons at Surface Steps of the Topological Insulator Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Reversible Modification of Rashba States in Topological Insulators at Room Temperature by Edge Functionalization