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Register a new userRobust Surface Hall Effect and Nonlocal Transport in SmB6: Indication for an Ideal Topological Insulator
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A topological insulator (TI) is an unusual quantum state in which the insulating bulk is topologically distinct from vacuum, resulting in a unique metallic surface that is robust against time-reversal invariant perturbations. These surface transport properties, however, remains difficult to be isolated from the bulk in existing TI crystals (Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3) due to impurity caused bulk conduction. We report in large crystals of topological Kondo insulator (TKI) candidate material SmB6 the thickness-independent surface Hall effects and non- local transport, which are robust against perturbations including mechanical abrasion. These results serve as proof that at low temperatures SmB6 has a robust metallic surface that surrounds a truly insulating bulk, paving the way for transport studies of the surface state in this proposed TKI material. ([email protected]).
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Bulk and surface state contributions to the electrical resistance of single-crystal samples of the topological Kondo insulator compound SmB6 are investigated as a function of crystal thickness and surface charge density, the latter tuned by ionic liquid gating with electrodes patterned in a Corbino disk geometry on a single surface. By separately tuning bulk and surface conduction channels, we show conclusive evidence for a model with an insulating bulk and metallic surface states, with a crossover temperature that depends solely on the relative contributions of each conduction channel. The surface conductance, on the order of 100 e^2/h and electron-like, exhibits a field-effect mobility of 133 cm^2/V/s and a large carrier density of ~2x10^{14}/cm^2, in good agreement with recent photoemission results. With the ability to gate-modulate surface conduction by more than 25%, this approach provides promise for both fundamental and applied studies of gate-tuned devices structured on bulk crystal samples.
The Kondo insulator compound SmB6 has emerged as a strong candidate for the realization of a topologically nontrivial state in a strongly correlated system, a topological Kondo insulator, which can be a novel platform for investigating the interplay between nontrivial topology and emergent correlation driven phenomena in solid state systems. Electronic transport measurements on this material, however, so far showed only the robust surface dominated charge conduction at low temperatures, lacking evidence of its connection to the topological nature by showing, for example, spin polarization due to spin momentum locking. Here, we find evidence for surface state spin polarization by electrical detection of a current induced spin chemical potential difference on the surface of a SmB6 single crystal. We clearly observe a surface dominated spin voltage, which is proportional to the projection of the spin polarization onto the contact magnetization, is determined by the direction and magnitude of the charge current and is strongly temperature dependent due to the crossover from surface to bulk conduction. We estimate the lower bound of the surface state net spin polarization as 15 percent based on the quantum transport model providing direct evidence that SmB6 supports metallic spin helical surface states.
Whether the surface states in SmB6 are topological is still a critical issue in the field of topological Kondo insulators. In the magneto-transport study of single crystalline SmB6 microribbons, we have revealed a positive planar Hall effect (PHE), the amplitude of which increases dramatically with decreasing temperatures but saturates below 5 K. This positive PHE is ascribed to the surface states of SmB6 and expected to arise from the anisotropy in lifting the topological protection from back-scattering by the in-plane magnetic field, thus suggesting the topological nature of surface states in SmB6. On the contrary, a negative PHE is observed for the bulk states at high temperatures, which is almost three orders of magnitudes weaker than the surface-induced positive PHE.
Three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TIs) are new forms of quantum matter that are characterized by their insulating bulk state and exotic metallic surface state, which hosts helical Dirac fermions1-2. Very recently, BiTeCl, one of the polar semiconductors, has been discovered by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to be the first strong inversion asymmetric topological insulator (SIATI). In contrast to the previously discovered 3D TIs with inversion symmetry, the SIATI are expected to exhibit novel topological phenomena, including crystalline-surface-dependent topological surface states, intrinsic topological p-n junctions, and pyroelectric and topological magneto-electric effects3. Here, we report the first transport evidence for the robust topological surface state in the SIATI BiTeCl via observation of Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations, which exhibit the 2D nature of the Fermi surface and pi Berry phase. The n = 1 Landau quantization of the topological surface state is observed at B . 12 T without gating, and the Fermi level is only 58.8 meV above the Dirac point, which gives rise to small effective mass, 0.055me, and quite large mobility, 4490 cm2s-1. Our findings will pave the way for future transport exploration of other new topological phenomena and potential applications for strong inversion asymmetric topological insulators.
SmB6 is a strongly correlated mixed-valence Kondo insulator with a newly discovered surface state, proposed to be of non-trivial topological origin. However, the surface state dominates electrical conduction only below T* ~ 4 K limiting its scientific investigation and device application. Here, we report the enhancement of T * in SmB6 under the application of tensile strain. With 0.7% tensile strain we report surface dominated conduction at up to a temperature of 240 K, persisting even after the strain has been removed. This can be explained in the framework of strain-tuned temporal and spatial fluctuations of f-electron configurations, which might be generally applied to other mixed-valence materials. We note that this amount of strain can be indued in epitaxial SmB6 films via substrate in potential device applications.
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