Strong and Weak 3D Topological Insulators Probed by Surface Science Methods

physica status solidi (b), vol. 258

Abstract

The contributions of surface science methods to discover and improve 3D topological insulator materials are reviewed herein, illustrated with examples from the authors’ own work. In particular, it is demonstrated that spin‐polarized angular‐resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is instrumental to evidence the spin‐helical surface Dirac cone, to tune its Dirac point energy toward the Fermi level, and to discover novel types of topological insulators such as dual ones or switchable ones in phase change materials. Moreover, procedures are introduced to spatially map potential fluctuations by scanning tunneling spectroscopy and to identify topological edge states in weak topological insulators.

Authors 5

1. Marcus Liebmann Aachen II. Institute of Physics B and JARA‐FIT

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   II. Institute of Physics B and JARA-FIT RWTH Aachen University 52074 Aachen Germany

2. Gustav Bihlmayer

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-1) Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-1) Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and JARA 52425 Jülich Germany

3. Łukasz Pluciński

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-6) Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and JARA 52428 Jülich Germany

4. Michael Ruck

   Technische Universität Dresden

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry TU Dresden 01062 Dresden Germany

5. Sven Just

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-3) Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and JARA 52428 Jülich Germany