We consider the excitation of large amplitude gyrotropic vortex core precession in a Permalloy nanodisk by the torques originating from the in-plane microwave current flowing along the interface of the Permalloy/Bi$_2$Se$_3$ heterostructures, in which the huge charge-to-spin conversion ratio is observed cite{Mellnik-2014}. We consider analytically and by micromagnetic modelling the dependence of this excitation on the frequency and magnitude of the microwave current. The analogies of the vortex dynamics and the Landau phase transitions theory is demonstrated. These findings open the possibility to excite gyrotropic vortex motion with the current densities far lower than by any other means.
The chalcogenide Bi$_2$Se$_3$ can attain the three dimensional (3D) Dirac semimetal state under the influence of strain and microstrain. Here we report the presnece of large linear magnetoresistance in such a Bi$_2$Se$_3$ crystal. The magnetoresistance has quadratic form at low fields which crossovers to linear above 4 T. The temperature dependence of magnetoresistance scales with carrier mobility and the crossover field scales with inverse of mobility. Our analysis suggest that the linear magnetoresistance in our system has a classical origin and arises from the scattering of high mobility 3D Dirac electrons from crystalline inhomogeneities. We observe that the charged selenium vacancies are strongly screened by high mobility Dirac electrons and the neutral crystalline defects are the main scattering center for transport mechanism. Our analysis suggests that both the resistivity and the magnetoresistance have their origin in scattering of charge carriers from neutral defects.
Shubnikov-de-Haas oscillations were studied under high magnetic field in Bi$_2$Se$_3$ nanostructures grown by Chemical Vapor Transport, for different bulk carrier densities ranging from $3times10^{19}text{cm}^{-3}$ to $6times10^{17}text{cm}^{-3}$. The contribution of topological surface states to electrical transport can be identified and separated from bulk carriers and massive two-dimensional electron gas. Band bending is investigated, and a crossover from upward to downward band bending is found at low bulk density, as a result of a competition between bulk and interface doping. These results highlight the need to control electrical doping both in the bulk and at interfaces in order to study only topological surface states.
Photoemission experiments have shown that Bi$_2$Se$_3$ is a topological insulator. By controlled doping, we have obtained crystals of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ with non-metallic conduction. At low temperatures, we uncover a novel type of magnetofingerprint signal which involves the spin degrees of freedom. Given the mm-sized crystals, the observed amplitude is 200-500$times$ larger than expected from universal conductance fluctuations. The results point to very long phase breaking lengths in an unusual conductance channel in these non-metallic samples. We discuss the nature of the in-gap conducting states and their relation to the topological surface states.
We performed x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements on heterostructures comprising topological insulators (TIs) of the (Bi,Sb)$_2$(Se,Te)$_3$ family and the magnetic insulator EuS. XMCD measurements allow us to investigate element-selective magnetic proximity effects at the very TI/EuS interface. A systematic analysis reveals that there is neither significant induced magnetism within the TI nor an enhancement of the Eu magnetic moment at such interface. The induced magnetic moments in Bi, Sb, Te, and Se sites are lower than the estimated detection limit of the XMCD measurements of $sim!10^{-3}$ $mu_mathrm{B}$/at.
The protected electron states at the boundaries or on the surfaces of topological insulators (TIs) have been the subject of intense theoretical and experimental investigations. Such states are enforced by very strong spin-orbit interaction in solids composed of heavy elements. Here, we study the composite particles -- chiral excitons -- formed by the Coulomb attraction between electrons and holes residing on the surface of an archetypical three-dimensional topological insulator (TI), Bi$_2$Se$_3$. Photoluminescence (PL) emission arising due to recombination of excitons in conventional semiconductors is usually unpolarized because of scattering by phonons and other degrees of freedom during exciton thermalization. On the contrary, we observe almost perfectly polarization-preserving PL emission from chiral excitons. We demonstrate that the chiral excitons can be optically oriented with circularly polarized light in a broad range of excitation energies, even when the latter deviate from the (apparent) optical band gap by hundreds of meVs, and that the orientation remains preserved even at room temperature. Based on the dependences of the PL spectra on the energy and polarization of incident photons, we propose that chiral excitons are made from massive holes and massless (Dirac) electrons, both with chiral spin textures enforced by strong spin-orbit coupling. A theoretical model based on such proposal describes quantitatively the experimental observations. The optical orientation of composite particles, the chiral excitons, emerges as a general result of strong spin-orbit coupling in a 2D electron system. Our findings can potentially expand applications of TIs in photonics and optoelectronics.