We report magneto-transport studies of topological insulator Bi_{2}Te_{3} thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition. A non-saturating linear-like magneto-resistance (MR) is observed at low temperatures in the magnetic field range from a few Tesla up to 60 Tesla. We demonstrate that the strong linear-like MR at high field can be well understood as the weak antilocalization phenomena described by Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka theory. Our analysis suggests that in our system, a topological insulator, the elastic scattering time can be longer than the spin-orbit scattering time. We briefly discuss our results in the context of Dirac Fermion physics and quantum linear magnetoresistance.
We report synthesis, structural details and electrical transport properties of topological insulator Bi2Te3. The single crystalline specimens of Bi2Te3 are obtained from high temperature (950C) melt and slow cooling (2C/hour). The resultant crystals were shiny, one piece (few cm) and of bright silver color. The Bi2Te3 crystal is found to be perfect with clear [00l] alignment. The powder XRD pattern being carried out on crushed crystals showed that Bi2Te3 crystallized in R3m symmetry with a = b = 4.3866(2) A, c = 30.4978(13) A and Gamma = 120degree. The Bi position is refined to (0, 0, 0.4038 (9)) at Wyckoff position 6c and of Te are (0, 0, 0) at Wyckoff position 3a and at (0, 0, 0.2039(8)) at 6c. Ambient pressure and low temperature (down to 2K) electrical transport measurements revealed metallic behavior. Magneto transport measurements under magnetic field showed huge non saturating magneto resistance (MR) reaching up to 250% at 2.5K and under 50KOe field. Summarily, the short communication clearly demonstrates that Bi2Te3 topological insulator exhibit non-saturating large positive MR at low temperature of say below 10K. The non saturating MR is seen right up to room temperature albeit with much decreased magnitude. Worth mentioning is the fact that these crystals are bulk in nature and hence the anomalous MR is clearly an intrinsic property and not due to the size effect as reported for nano-wires or thin films of the same.
We use real-time reflection high energy electron diffraction intensity oscillation to establish the Te-rich growth dynamics of topological insulator thin films of Bi2Te3 on Si(111) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. In situ angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), scanning tunneling microscopy and ex situ transport measurements reveal that the as-grown Bi2Te3 films without any doping are an intrinsic topological insulator with its Fermi level intersecting only the metallic surface states. Experimentally, we find that the single-Dirac-cone surface state develops at a thickness of two quintuple layers (2 QL). Theoretically, we show that the interaction between the surface states from both sides of the film, which is determined by the penetration depth of the topological surface state wavefunctions, sets this lower thickness limit.
Using high magnetic fields up to 60 T, we report magneto-transport and photoluminescence (PL) studies of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a GaN/AlGaN heterojunction grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. Transport measurements demonstrate that the quantum limit can be exceeded (Landau level filling factor $ u < 1$), and show evidence for the $ u =2/3$ fractional quantum Hall state. Simultaneous optical and transport measurements reveal synchronous quantum oscillations of both the PL intensity and longitudinal resistivity in the integer quantum Hall regime. PL spectra directly reveal the dispersion of occupied Landau levels in the 2DEG and therefore the electron mass. These results demonstrate the utility of high (pulsed) magnetic fields for detailed measurements of quantum phenomena in high-density 2DEGs.
Dynamic manipulation of magnetism in topological materials is demonstrated here via a Floquet engineering approach using circularly polarized light. Increasing the strength of the laser field, besides the expected topological phase transition, the magnetically doped topological insulator thin film also undergoes a magnetic phase transition from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism, whose critical behavior strongly depends on the quantum quenching. In sharp contrast to the equilibrium case, the non-equilibrium Curie temperatures vary for different time scale and experimental setup, not all relying on change of topology. Our discoveries deepen the understanding of the relationship between topology and magnetism in the non-equilibrium regime and extend optoelectronic device applications to topological materials.
Electrical field control of the carrier density of topological insulators (TI) has greatly expanded the possible practical use of these materials. However, the combination of low temperature local probe studies and a gate tunable TI device remains challenging. We have overcome this limitation by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements on in-situ molecular beam epitaxy growth of Bi2Se3 films on SrTiO3 substrates with pre-patterned electrodes. Using this gating method, we are able to shift the Fermi level of the top surface states by 250 meV on a 3 nm thick Bi2Se3 device. We report field effect studies of the surface state dispersion, band gap, and electronic structure at the Fermi level.