Planar Hall effect from the surface of topological insulators

A. A. Taskin, Henry F. Legg, Fan Yang, Satoshi Sasaki, Yasushi Kanai, Kazuhiko Matsumoto, Achim Rosch and Yoichi Ando ()
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A. A. Taskin: University of Cologne
Henry F. Legg: University of Cologne
Fan Yang: University of Cologne
Satoshi Sasaki: Osaka University
Yasushi Kanai: Osaka University
Kazuhiko Matsumoto: Osaka University
Achim Rosch: University of Cologne
Yoichi Ando: University of Cologne

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract A prominent feature of topological insulators (TIs) is the surface states comprising of spin-nondegenerate massless Dirac fermions. Recent technical advances have made it possible to address the surface transport properties of TI thin films by tuning the Fermi levels of both top and bottom surfaces. Here we report our discovery of a novel planar Hall effect (PHE) from the TI surface, which results from a hitherto-unknown resistivity anisotropy induced by an in-plane magnetic field. This effect is observed in dual-gated devices of bulk-insulating Bi2−x Sb x Te3 thin films, where the field-induced anisotropy presents a strong dependence on the gate voltage with a characteristic two-peak structure near the Dirac point. The origin of PHE is the peculiar time-reversal-breaking effect of an in-plane magnetic field, which anisotropically lifts the protection of surface Dirac fermions from backscattering. The observed PHE provides a useful tool to analyze and manipulate the topological protection of the TI surface.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01474-8

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