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Tunneling Tuned Spin Modulations in Ultrathin Topological Insulator Films

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 Added by Madhab Neupane
 Publication date 2013
  fields Physics
and research's language is English




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Quantitative understanding of the relationship between quantum tunneling and Fermi surface spin polarization is key to device design using topological insulator surface states. By using spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with p-polarized light in topological insulator Bi2Se3 thin films across the metal-to-insulator transition, we observe that for a given film thickness, the spin polarization is large for momenta far from the center of the surface Brillouin zone. In addition, the polarization decreases significantly with enhanced tunneling realized systematically in thin insulating films, whereas magnitude of the polarization saturates to the bulk limit faster at larger wavevectors in thicker metallic films. Our theoretical model calculations capture this delicate relationship between quantum tunneling and Fermi surface spin polarization. Our results suggest that the polarization current can be tuned to zero in thin insulating films forming the basis for a future spin-switch nano-device.



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Understanding the spin-texture behavior of boundary modes in ultrathin topological insulator films is critically essential for the design and fabrication of functional nano-devices. Here by using spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with p-polarized light in topological insulator Bi2Se3 thin films, we report tunneling-dependent evolution of spin configuration in topological insulator thin films across the metal-to-insulator transition. We observe strongly binding energy- and wavevector-dependent spin polarization for the topological surface electrons in the ultra-thin gapped-Dirac-cone limit. The polarization decreases significantly with enhanced tunneling realized systematically in thin insulating films, whereas magnitude of the polarization saturates to the bulk limit faster at larger wavevectors in thicker metallic films. We present a theoretical model which captures this delicate relationship between quantum tunneling and Fermi surface spin polarization. Our high-resolution spin-based spectroscopic results suggest that the polarization current can be tuned to zero in thin insulating films forming the basis for a future spin-switch nano-device.
We investigate the optical properties of an ultrathin film of a topological insulator in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field. We show that due to the combination of the overlap between the surface states of the two layers and the magnetic field, the optical conductivity can show strong anisotropy. This leads to the effective optical activity of the ultrathin film by influencing the circularly polarized incident light. Intriguingly, for a range of magnetic fields, the reflected and transmitted lights exhibit elliptic character. Even for certain values almost linear polarizations are obtained, indicating that the thin film can act as a polaroid in reflection. All these features are discussed in the context of the time reversal symmetry breaking as one of key ingredients for the optical activity.
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.
We studied the temperature dependence of the diagonal double-stripe spin order in one and two unit cell thick layers of FeTe grown on the topological insulator Bi_2Te_3 via spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy. The spin order persists up to temperatures which are higher than the transition temperature reported for bulk Fe_1+yTe with lowest possible excess Fe content y. The enhanced spin order stability is assigned to a strongly decreased y with respect to the lowest values achievable in bulk crystal growth, and effects due to the interface between the FeTe and the topological insulator. The result is relevant for understanding the recent observation of a coexistence of superconducting correlations and spin order in this system.
Ultrafast carrier dynamics in the topological insulator Bi2Se3 have recently been intensively studied using a variety of techniques. However, we are not aware of any successful experiments exploiting transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy for these purposes. Here we demonstrate that if the ~730 nm wavelength pumping (~1.7 eV photon energy) is applied to ultrathin Bi2Se3 films, TA spectra cover the entire visible region, thus unambiguously pointing to two-photon excitation (~3.4 eV). The carrier relaxation dynamics is found to be governed by the polar optical phonon cascade emission occurring in both the bulk states and the Dirac surface states (SS), including SS-bulk-SS vertical electron transport and being also exclusively influenced by whether the Dirac point is presented between the Dirac cones of the higher energy (~1.5 eV) Dirac SS (known as SS2). We have recognized that SS2 act as a valve substantially slowing down the relaxation of electrons when the gap between Dirac cones exceeds the polar optical phonon and resonant defects energies. The resulting progressive accumulation of electrons in the gapped SS2 becomes detectable through the inverse bremsstrahlung type free carrier absorption.
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