Signatures of Helical Edge Transport in Millimetre-Scale Thin Films of Na3Bi

Abstract

A two-dimensional topological insulator (2DTI) has an insulating bulk and helical spin-polarised edge modes robust to backscattering by non-magnetic disorder. While ballistic transport has been demonstrated in 2DTIs over short distances, larger samples show significant backscattering and a nearly temperature-independent resistance whose origin is unclear. 2DTI edges have shown a spin polarisation, however the degree of helicity is difficult to quantify from spin measurements. Here, we study 2DTI few-layer Na3Bi on insulating Al2O3. A non-local conductance measurement geometry enables sensitive detection of the edge conductance in the topological regime, with an edge mean free path ~100 nm. Magnetic field suppresses spin-flip scattering in the helical edges, resulting in a giant negative magnetoresistance (GNMR), up to 80% at 0.9 T. Comparison to theory indicates >98% of scattering is helical spin scattering significantly exceeding the maximum (67%) expected for a non-helical metal. GNMR, coupled with non-local measurements demonstrating edge conduction, thus provides an unambiguous experimental signature of helical edges that we expect to be generically useful in understanding 2DTIs.

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• Imaging the breakdown and restoration of topological protection in magnetic topological insulator MnBi${}_2$Te${}_4$
• The effect of magnetic impurity scattering on transport in topological insulators
• Spin-resolved spectroscopy of helical Andreev bound states
• Unidirectional magneto-transport of linearly dispersing topological edge states
• Extended Haldane model -- a modern gateway to topological insulators