中国物理B ›› 2013, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (6): 67301-067301.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/22/6/067301

所属专题: TOPICAL REVIEW — Topological insulator

• TOPICAL REVIEW—Topological insulator • 上一篇    下一篇

Elastic scattering of surface states on three-dimensional topological insulators

王靖a b, 朱邦芬a c   

  1. a State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;
    b Department of Physics, McCullough Building, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4045, USA;
    c Institute of Advanced Study, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • 收稿日期:2013-05-13 出版日期:2013-05-01 发布日期:2013-05-01
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2011CB921901) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11074143).

Elastic scattering of surface states on three-dimensional topological insulators

Wang Jing (王靖)a b, Zhu Bang-Fen (朱邦芬)a c   

  1. a State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;
    b Department of Physics, McCullough Building, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4045, USA;
    c Institute of Advanced Study, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • Received:2013-05-13 Online:2013-05-01 Published:2013-05-01
  • Contact: Zhu Bang-Fen E-mail:bfz@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2011CB921901) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11074143).

摘要: Topological insulators as a new type of quantum matter materials are characterized by a full insulating gap in the bulk and gapless edge/surface states protected by the time-reversal symmetry. We propose that the interference patterns caused by the elastic scattering of defects or impurities are dominated by the surface states at the extremal points on the constant energy contour. Within such a formalism, we summarize our recent theoretical investigations on the elastic scattering of topological surface states by various imperfections, including non-magnetic impurities, magnetic impurities, step edges, and various other defects, in comparison with the recent related experiments in typical topological materials such as BiSb alloys, Bi2Te3, and Bi2Se3 crystals.

关键词: topological insulator, surface state, scattering by imperfection, scanning tunneling microscope

Abstract: Topological insulators as a new type of quantum matter materials are characterized by a full insulating gap in the bulk and gapless edge/surface states protected by the time-reversal symmetry. We propose that the interference patterns caused by the elastic scattering of defects or impurities are dominated by the surface states at the extremal points on the constant energy contour. Within such a formalism, we summarize our recent theoretical investigations on the elastic scattering of topological surface states by various imperfections, including non-magnetic impurities, magnetic impurities, step edges, and various other defects, in comparison with the recent related experiments in typical topological materials such as BiSb alloys, Bi2Te3, and Bi2Se3 crystals.

Key words: topological insulator, surface state, scattering by imperfection, scanning tunneling microscope

中图分类号:  (Electron states at surfaces and interfaces)

  • 73.20.-r
68.37.Ef (Scanning tunneling microscopy (including chemistry induced with STM)) 73.43.Cd (Theory and modeling) 72.10.Fk (Scattering by point defects, dislocations, surfaces, and other imperfections (including Kondo effect))