Observation of topological surface state quantum Hall effect in an intrinsic three-dimensional topological insulator

By Yang Xu, I. Miotkowski, Chang Liu, Jifa Tian, H. Nam, N. Alidoust, Jiuning Hu, C. Shih, M. Zahid Hasan, Yong P. Chen. Nature Physics, 2014

410 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) is a quantum state of matter with a gapped insulating bulk yet a conducting surface hosting topologically protected gapless surface states. One of the most distinct electronic transport signatures predicted for such topological surface states (TSS) is a well-defined half-integer quantum Hall effect (QHE) in a magnetic field, where the surface Hall conductivities become quantized in units of (1/2)e2/h (e being the electron charge, h the Planck constant) concomitant with vanishing resistance. Here, we observe a well-developed QHE arising from TSS in an intrinsic TI of BiSbTeSe2. Our samples exhibit surface-dominated conduction even close to room temperature, whereas the bulk conduction is negligible. At low temperatures and high magnetic fields perpendicular to the top and bottom surfaces, we observe well-developed integer quantized Hall plateaux, where the two parallel surfaces each contribute a half-integer e2/h quantized Hall conductance, accompanied by vanishing longitudinal resistance. When the bottom surface is gated to match the top surface in carrier density, only odd integer QH plateaux are observed, representing a half-integer QHE of two degenerate Dirac gases. This system provides an excellent platform to pursue a plethora of exotic physics and novel device applications predicted for TIs, ranging from magnetic monopoles and Majorana particles to dissipationless electronics and fault-tolerant quantum computers. Experimentalists have observed the predicted half-integer quantum Hall effect using the topological insulator BiSbTeSe2, which exhibits topological surface states at room temperature, with each surface contributing a half quantum of Hall conductance.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Condensed Matter Physics, Materials Chemistry

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f086749da219925505eb0af42cf73a4aa92b8967

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

1. Ashvin Vishwanath
2. Hsin Lin
3. Arun Bansil
4. N. P. Armitage
5. Tanmoy Das
6. M. Zahid Hasan
7. E. Mele
8. Jia-Xin Yin

In Condensed Matter Physics

1. Ashvin Vishwanath
2. M. Zahid Hasan
3. Hsin Lin
4. N. P. Armitage
5. E. Mele
6. Tanmoy Das
7. Arun Bansil
8. E. Witten

In Materials Chemistry

1. Ashvin Vishwanath
2. Hsin Lin
3. Arun Bansil
4. M. Zahid Hasan
5. Tanmoy Das
6. N. P. Armitage
7. E. Mele
8. Jia-Xin Yin

Citations in the corpus

• Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids (2017, background): “This is unlike the case of topological insulators, where after sufficiently insulating bulk materials were grown, definitive surface transport signatures soon followed (Analytis et al., 2010; Checkelsky et al., 2011; Wu et al., 2016; Xu et al., 2014).”
• Expanding frontiers in materials chemistry and physics with multiple anions (2018, methodology): “The precise carrier control has been also utilized to achieve a topological surface state quantum Hall effect (Figure 6d).(91)”
• Colloquium : Topological band theory (2016, result): “Zhang, H., C.-X. Liu, X.-L. Qi, X. Dai, Z. Fang, and S.- C. Zhang, 2009, “Topological Insulators in Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 with a Single Dirac Cone on the Surface,” Nat.”
• Probing topological quantum matter with scanning tunnelling microscopy (2021, methodology): “Panel c adapted from REF.(89), Springer Nature Limited.”