A tunable topological insulator in the spin helical Dirac transport regime

D. Hsieh, Y. Xia, D. Qian, L. Wray, J. H. Dil, F. Meier, J. Osterwalder, L. Patthey, J. G. Checkelsky, N. P. Ong, A. V. Fedorov, H. Lin, A. Bansil, D. Grauer, Y. S. Hor, R. J. Cava and M. Z. Hasan ()
Additional contact information
D. Hsieh: Joseph Henry Laboratories of Physics
Y. Xia: Joseph Henry Laboratories of Physics
D. Qian: Joseph Henry Laboratories of Physics
L. Wray: Joseph Henry Laboratories of Physics
J. H. Dil: Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232, Villigen, Switzerland
F. Meier: Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232, Villigen, Switzerland
J. Osterwalder: Physik-Institute, Universitat Zurich-Irchel
L. Patthey: Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232, Villigen, Switzerland
J. G. Checkelsky: Joseph Henry Laboratories of Physics
N. P. Ong: Joseph Henry Laboratories of Physics
A. V. Fedorov: Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
H. Lin: Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
A. Bansil: Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
D. Grauer: Department of Chemistry,
Y. S. Hor: Department of Chemistry,
R. J. Cava: Department of Chemistry,
M. Z. Hasan: Joseph Henry Laboratories of Physics

Nature, 2009, vol. 460, issue 7259, 1101-1105

Abstract: Topological insulators: tuned to protection Helical Dirac fermions are relativistic particles which, unlike conventional Dirac fermions in graphene, have a net intrinsic angular momentum (spin) interlocked with their translational momentum, a property desirable for spintronic and computing technologies. Recently, it was proposed that such helical Dirac systems could be realized in so-called topological insulators — materials in which strong spin–orbit coupling gives rise to a bulk insulating gap and surface states protected against scattering by time-reversal symmetry. Hsieh et al. combine spin- and momentum-resolved spectroscopic imaging techniques to report the experimental realization of such a system in a bismuth-based material, where the experiments reveal nearly 100% spin polarization even up to room temperature. Crucially, the paper reports tunability of the fermion density, via doping, enabling the authors to drive the system to the so-called topological transport regime, which is believed to facilitate spin transport without heat dissipation.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08234

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