Interplay between Topological States and Rashba States as Manifested on Surface Steps at Room Temperature

Abstract

The unique spin texture of quantum states in topological materials underpins many proposed spintronic applications. However, realizations of such great potential are stymied by perturbations, such as temperature and local fields imposed by impurities and defects, that can render a promising quantum state uncontrollable. Here, we report room-temperature observation of interaction between Rashba states and topological surface states, which manifests unique spin textures controllable by layer thickness of thin films. Specifically, we combine scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy with the first-principles theoretical calculation to find the robust Rashba states coexisting with topological surface states along the surface steps with characteristic spin textures in momentum space. The Rashba edge states can be switched off by reducing the thickness of a topological insulator Bi2Se3 to bolster their interaction with the hybridized topological surface states. The study unveils a manipulating mechanism of the spin textures at room temperature, reinforcing the necessity of thin film technology in controlling quantum states.

References in corpus (7)

• Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface
• STM Spectroscopy of ultra-flat graphene on hexagonal boron nitride
• Epitaxial growth of topological insulator Bi2Se3 film on Si(111) with atomically sharp interface
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• Transport Properties of Topological Insulators: Band Bending, Bulk Metal-to-Insulator Transition, and Weak Anti-Localization
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• Correspondence: Reply to "On the understanding of current-induced spin polarization of 3D topological insulators"

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Reversible Modification of Rashba States in Topological Insulators at Room Temperature by Edge Functionalization
• Nucleation and Antiphase Twin Control in Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ via Step-Terminated Al${}_2$O${}_3$ Substrates
• Interplay between surface Dirac and Rashba states specific for topologically nontrivial van der Waals superlattices