Joule meets van der Waals: Mechanical dissipation via image potential states on a topological insulator surface

Abstract

Dissipation mechanisms are experimentally studied on topological insulator surfaces of Bi2Te3, where common Joule dissipation was observed to be suppressed due to topologically protected surface states. Thus, a novel type of dissipation mechanism is observed by pendulum AFM, which is related to single electron tunneling resonances into image potential states that are slightly above the Bi2Te3 surface. The application of a magnetic field leads to the break down of the topological protection of the surface states and restores the expected Joule dissipation process. Nanomechanical energy dissipation experienced by the cantilever of pendulum AFM provides a novel source of information on the dissipative nature of the quantum-tunneling phenomena on the topological insulator surface.

References in corpus (18)

• Topological Insulators
• Experimental demonstration of the topological surface states protected by the time-reversal symmetry
• Impurity effect on weak anti-localization in the topological insulator Bi2Te3
• Ultrafast Optical Excitation of a Persistent Surface-State Population in the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3
• Transmission of topological surface states through surface barriers
• Topological Surface States and Dirac point tuning in ternary Bi2Te2Se class of topological insulators
• Direct Optical Coupling to an Unoccupied Dirac Surface State in the Topological Insulator Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Detection of Single Electron Charging in an Individual InAs Quantum Dot by Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy
• Quantum Coherence of Image-Potential States
• Topological Surface States with Persistent High Spin Polarization across Dirac Point in Bi${}_2$Te${}_2$Se and Bi${}_2$Se${}_2$Te
• Energy levels of few electron quantum dots imaged and characterized by atomic force microscopy
• Signatures of Dirac fermion-mediated magnetic order
• Unoccupied Topological States on Bismuth Chalcogenides
• CDW slips and giant frictional dissipation peaks at the NbSe${}_2$ surface
• Image potential states as quantum probe of graphene interfaces
• Enhancement of noncontact friction between closely spaced bodies by two-dimensional systems
• Mechanical dissipation from charge and spin transitions in oxygen deficient SrTiO_3
• Noncontact dissipation reveals critical central peak in SrTiO3

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Effect of deep-defect excitation on mechanical energy dissipation of single-crystal diamond
• Probing Image Potential States on Topological Semimetal Antimony Surface
• Density of States of an Electron in the Image Field and Blocking Electric Field