A Systematic Investigation of the Coupling between One-Dimensional Edge States of a Topological Crystalline Insulator

Abstract

The interaction of spin-polarized one-dimensional (1D) topological edge modes localized along single-atomic steps of the topological crystalline insulator $P{b}_{0.7}S{n}_{0.3}Se(001)$ has been studied systematically by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Our results reveal that the coupling of adjacent edge modes sets in at a step{to{step distance $d_{ss}<25$ nm, resulting in a characteristic splitting of a single peak at the Dirac point in tunneling spectra. Whereas the energy splitting exponentially increases with decreasing $d_{ss}$ for single-atomic steps running almost parallel, we find no splitting for single-atomic step edges under an angle of $90^o$. The results are discussed in terms of overlapping wave functions with $p_x;p_y$ orbital character.

6 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Interaction effects in a 1D flat band at a topological crystalline step edge
• STM observation of the hinge-states of bismuth nanocrystals
• Probing chiral symmetry with a topological domain wall sensor
• Strain-induced two-dimensional topological crystalline insulator
• Lifting topological protection in a quantum spin Hall insulator by edge coupling