拓扑绝缘体薄膜和有限尺寸效应

拓扑绝缘体是近年来发现的一类新的量子材料,已成为凝聚态物理的研究热点领域.厚度仅几纳米的拓扑绝缘体薄膜不但具有奇特的物理性质,而且还是拓扑绝缘体应用于平面器件的基础.文章以Bi2Se3为例,介绍了Bi2Se3家族拓扑绝缘体薄膜的分子束外延生长以及其能带、自旋结构和拓扑性质随层厚的演化.这些结果为人工调控拓扑绝缘体的电子结构和物理性质提供了指导.     

纳米尺度下超导体和拓扑绝缘体的电输运特性

超导体和拓扑绝缘体研究是当前凝聚态物理领域中的重大课题.文章重点介绍了作者所在实验室在纳米超导和拓扑绝缘体电输运领域的实验进展,其中包括金属和铁磁纳米线中的超导近邻效应、半金属纳米线中的新奇超导特性、拓扑绝缘体薄膜中的量子输运以及超导态-拓扑量子态的相互作用等,并对该领域的进一步发展进行了展望.     

在预刻蚀的衬底上通过分子束外延直接生长出拓扑绝缘体薄膜的微器件

在利用光刻将拓扑绝缘体外延薄膜加工成微米尺寸结构的过程中,所用的各种化学物质会导致薄膜质量的下降.在实验中,通过在钛酸锶衬底上预先光刻出Hall bar形状的凸平台并以此为模板进行拓扑绝缘体(Bi x Sb1-x)2Te3薄膜的分子束外延生长,直接获得了薄膜的Hall bar微器件,从而避免了光刻过程对材料质量的影响.原子力显微镜和输运测量结果均显示该微器件保持了(Bi x Sb1-x)2Te3外延薄膜原有的性质.这种新的微器件制备方法有助于在拓扑绝缘体中实现各种新奇的量子效应,并可推广于其他外延生长的低维系统.     

拓扑绝缘体电子态的电场调控

文章简要介绍了对拓扑绝缘体性质的电场控制,主要包括三维拓扑绝缘体表面磁性的电场控制、电子在p-n结中的类光输运行为以及拓扑绝缘体量子点的特性.     

SrRuO3超薄膜制备条件和拓扑霍尔效应的关联

使用激光分子束外延在SrTiO₃(001)衬底上生长SrRuO₃薄膜,并研究激光能量密度、生长温度和靶材表面烧蚀度等生长参数对于SrRuO₃表面形貌、基本磁电性质以及拓扑霍尔效应的影响.当在最优条件下生长SrRuO₃薄膜时,样品表面平整、台阶清晰,具有最低的金属-绝缘体转变温度,电阻率最低,且具有最显著的拓扑霍尔效应;而改变生长参数生长的SrRuO₃薄膜由于存在更多的缺陷,其表面较粗糙,金属-绝缘体转变温度增大,或表现出绝缘体行为,而拓扑霍尔效应会变弱甚至消失.     

拓扑绝缘体表面态的STM研究

文章主要介绍了利用扫描隧道显微镜对拓扑绝缘体表面态进行的一系列研究工作,包括拓扑绝缘体表面态的电子驻波以及拓扑表面态的朗道量子化现象.这些工作对于拓扑绝缘体基本性质的确立以及深入理解具有十分重要的意义.     

拓扑绝缘体的普适电导涨落

拓扑绝缘体因其无能量耗散的拓扑表面输运而备受关注, 揭示拓扑表面态因其 的贝利相位而产生的拓扑输运现象, 将有助于拓扑绝缘体相关器件的应用开发. 本文回顾了普适电导涨落(UCF) 揭示拓扑绝缘体奇异输运性质的研究进展. 通过调控温度、角度、门电压、垂直磁场和平行磁场等外部参量, 实现了对拓扑绝缘体的UCF 效应的系统研究, 证实了拓扑绝缘体中二维UCF 的输运现象, 并通过尺寸标度规律获得了UCF 的拓扑起源的实验证据, 讨论了拓扑表面态的UCF 的统计对称规律. 从而实现了对拓扑绝缘体UCF 效应的较为完整的理解.     

Bi(110)薄膜在NbSe_2衬底上的扫描隧道显微镜研究

二维拓扑绝缘体因其特殊的能带结构带来的新奇物理性质,成为近年来凝聚态物理的研究热点.尤其是在引入超导电性之后,二维拓扑绝缘体中可能存在马约拉纳费米子(Majorana fermion),因此在量子计算方面具有重大应用前景.在Bi(111)薄膜被证实为二维拓扑绝缘体之后, Bi(110)薄膜引起了广泛关注,然而其拓扑性质还存在争议.本文利用分子束外延技术在室温低生长速率环境下成功制备出了高质量的单晶Bi(110)薄膜.通过扫描隧道显微镜测量发现,薄膜以约8个原子层厚度为分界,从双层生长转变为单层生长模式.结合隧道谱测量发现,在NbSe_2衬底上生长的Bi(110)薄膜因为近邻效应而具有明显的超导性质,但并未显示出拓扑边缘态的存在.此外,对薄膜中特殊的量子阱态现象也进行了讨论.     

Bi基拓扑绝缘体纳米薄片的制备和输运性质的研究

拓扑绝缘体表面态传输耗散少,有可能作为变电站中的电传输新材料.我们采用化学气相沉积法制备了Bi_2Te_3拓扑绝缘体纳米薄片,通过光学显微镜、原子力显微镜和扫描电镜表征,优化了制备参数进而获得Bi_2Te_3纳米薄片.采用光刻技术在Bi_2Te_3纳米薄片上制作金属电极,测量其输运性质,观察到了来自拓扑表面态的弱反局域化效应.运用传统的弱局域化理论得到表面态电子的退相干长度约为130 nm.     

TiO薄膜的制备及电输运性质

利用磁控溅射技术,通过改变氧分压在MgO (001)单晶基片上外延生长了一系列TiO薄膜,并对薄膜的结构、价态和电输运性质进行了系统研究. X射线衍射结果表明,所制备的薄膜具有岩盐结构,沿[001]晶向外延生长. X射线光电子能谱结果表明,薄膜中Ti元素主要以二价形式存在.所有样品均具有负的电阻温度系数,高氧分压下制备的薄膜表现出绝缘体的导电性质,低温下电阻与温度的关系遵从变程跳跃导电规律.低氧分压下制备的薄膜具有金属导电性质,并具有超导电性,超导转变温度最高可达3.05 K.所有样品均具有较高的载流子浓度,随着氧分压的降低,薄膜的载流子类型由电子主导转变为空穴主导.氧含量的降低可能加强了TiO中Ti—Ti键的作用,从而使低氧分压下制备的样品显现出与金属Ti相似的电输运性质,薄膜超导转变温度的提升可能与晶体结构或电子结构突变相关联.     

Electron localization in ultrathin films of three-dimensional topological insulators

The recent discovery of three-dimensional(3D) topological insulators(TIs) has provided a fertile ground for obtaining further insights into electron localization in condensed matter systems.In the past few years,a tremendous amount of research effort has been devoted to investigate electron transport properties of 3D TIs and their low dimensional structures in a wide range of disorder strength,covering transport regimes from weak antilocalization to strong localization.The knowledge gained from these studies not only offers sensitive means to probe the surface states of 3D TIs but also forms a basis for exploring novel topological phases.In this article,we briefly review the main experimental progress in the study of the localization in 3D TIs,with a focus on the latest results on ultrathin TI films.Some new transport data will also be presented in order to complement those reported previously in the literature.     

From magnetically doped topological insulator to the quantum anomalous Hall effect

Quantum Hall effect （QHE）, as a class of quantum phenomena that occur in macroscopic scale, is one of the most important topics in condensed matter physics. It has long been expected that QHE may occur without Landau levels so that neither external magnetic field nor high sample mobility is required for its study and application, Such a QHE free of Landau levels, can appear in topological insulators （TIs） with ferromagnetism as the quantized version of the anomalous Hall effect, i.e., quantum anomalous Hall （QAH） effect. Here we review our recent work on experimental realization of the QAH effect in magnetically doped TIs. With molecular beam epitaxy, we prepare thin films of Cr-doped （Bi,Sb）2Te3 TIs with well- controlled chemical potential and long-range ferromagnetic order that can survive the insulating phase. In such thin films, we eventually observed the quantization of the Hall resistance at h/e2 at zero field, accompanied by a considerable drop in the longitudinal resistance. Under a strong magnetic field, the longitudinal resistance vanishes, whereas the Hall resistance remains at the quantized value. The realization of the QAH effect provides a foundation for many other novel quantum phenomena predicted in TIs, and opens a route to practical applications of quantum Hall physics in low-power-consumption electronics.     

Robust surface state of intrinsic topological insulator Bi2Te2Se thin films: a first-principles study

Bi(2)Te(2)Se, a ternary tetradymite compound, has recently been identified to be a three-dimensional topological insulator. In this paper, we theoretically study the electronic structures of bulk and thin films of Bi(2)Te(2)Se employing spin-orbit coupling (SOC) self-consistently with density-functional theory. It is found that SOC plays an important role in determining the electronic properties of Bi(2)Te(2)Se. A finite bandgap opens up in the surface states of Bi(2)Te(2)Se thin films due to the hybridization of the top and bottom surface states of films. The intrinsic Bi(2)Te(2)Se thin films of three or more quintuple layers exhibit a robust topological nature of electronic structure with the Fermi energy intersecting the Dirac cone of the surface states only once between time-reversal-invariant momenta. These characteristics of Bi(2)Te(2)Se are similar to the topological behavior of Bi(2)Te(3), promising a variety of potential applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics.     

Site Preference of Se and Te in Bi_2Se_(3-x)Te_x Thin Films

The ternary topological insulators Bi_2Se_(3-x)Te_x have attracted a great deal of attention due to their exotic physical and chemical properties.While most of the studies focus on the properties of these ternary TIs,limited research was performed to investigate the dynamic atomic stack of its crystal structure.We prepared highquality Bi_2Se_(3-x)Te_x thin films on Ga As(111)B substrates using molecular beam epitaxy,characterized with Raman spectroscopy,x-ray diffraction and photoelectron spectroscopy.It is found that when Se is replaced by Te,the preferred substituting sites are the middle layer at 0x1,and this is also valid for Se substituting Te at 2x3.In the middle region,the substituting atoms prefer to go to the first and the fifth layer.     

硼掺杂拓扑绝缘体Bi2Se3单晶的电输运性质研究

本文首次报道了用自助溶剂法(self-flux)制备优良的硼(B)掺杂硒化铋(Bi2BxSe3-x)样品的探索。实验结果显示掺杂样品中大部分B是以替代Se位方式存在,少量B以插入Bi2Se3晶格或范德瓦尔斯间隙的形式存在。当B的含量逐渐增加时,Bi2Se3的晶格常数c先减小后增加,且样品具有清晰的层状结构。掺杂量x=0.05的样品局部区域出现纳米带结构,同时该样品在低温下出现了明显的金属-绝缘转变现象。Bi2Se3样品电阻率随掺杂含量的增加而增加,表明B掺杂提高了样品表面态对整体电导的贡献,同时纳米带结构也有助于增加表面态的贡献。     

Crossover between weak antilocalization and weak localization in a magnetically doped topological insulator

We report transport studies on magnetically doped Bi(2)Se(3) topological insulator ultrathin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The magnetotransport behavior exhibits a systematic crossover between weak antilocalization and weak localization with the change of magnetic impurity concentration, temperature, and magnetic field. We show that the localization property is closely related to the magnetization of the sample, and the complex crossover is due to the transformation of Bi(2)Se(3) from a topological insulator to a topologically trivial dilute magnetic semiconductor driven by magnetic impurities. This work demonstrates an effective way to manipulate the quantum transport properties of the topological insulators by breaking time-reversal symmetry.     

Topological edge states and electronic structures of a 2D topological insulator： Single-bilayer Bi （111）

Providing the strong spin-orbital interaction, Bismuth is the key element in the family of three-dimensional topological insulators. At the same time, Bismuth itself also has very unusual behavior, existing from the thinnest unit to bulk crystals. Ultrathin Bi （111） bilayers have been theoretically proposed as a two-dimensional topological insulator. The related experimental realization achieved only recently, by growing Bi （111） ultrathin bilayers on topological insulator Bi2Te3 or Bi2Se3 substrates. In this review, we started from the growth mode of Bi （111） bilayers and reviewed our recent progress in the studies of the electronic structures and the one-dimensional topological edge states using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy （STM/STS）, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy （ARPES）, and first principles calculations.     

Terahertz response and colossal Kerr rotation from the surface states of the topological insulator Bi2Se3

We report the THz response of thin films of the topological insulator Bi2Se3. At low frequencies, transport is essentially thickness independent showing the dominant contribution of the surface electrons. Despite their extended exposure to ambient conditions, these surfaces exhibit robust properties including narrow, almost thickness-independent Drude peaks, and an unprecedentedly large polarization rotation of linearly polarized light reflected in an applied magnetic field. This Kerr rotation can be as large as 65° and can be explained by a cyclotron resonance effect of the surface states.     

Topological transport in Dirac electronic systems:A concise review

Various novel physical properties have emerged in Dirac electronic systems, especially the topological characters protected by symmetry. Current studies on these systems have been greatly promoted by the intuitive concepts of Berry phase and Berry curvature, which provide precise definitions of the topological phases. In this topical review, transport properties of topological insulator(Bi2Se3), topological Dirac semimetal(Cd3As2), and topological insulator-graphene heterojunction are presented and discussed. Perspectives about transport properties of two-dimensional topological nontrivial systems,including topological edge transport, topological valley transport, and topological Weyl semimetals, are provided.