| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures | Monday Sessions |
| Session MI-MoA |
| Session: | Topological Insulators/Rashba Effect |
| Presenter: | Duming Zhang, NIST and University of Maryland |
| Authors: | D. Zhang, NIST and University of Maryland H. Baek, NIST and Seoul National University, Korea J. Ha, NIST and University of Maryland T. Zhang, NIST and University of Maryland J.E. Wyrick, National Institute of Standards and Technology A.V. Davydov, National Institute of Standards and Technology Y. Kuk, Seoul National University, Korea J.A. Stroscio, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Recently, the topological classification of electronic states has been extended to a new class of matter known as topological crystalline insulators. Similar to topological insulators, topological crystalline insulators also have spin-momentum locked surface states; but they only exist on specific crystal planes that are protected by crystal reflection symmetry. Here, we report an ultra-low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy study on topological crystalline insulator SnTe nanoplates grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We observed quasiparticle interference patterns on the SnTe (001) surface that can be interpreted in terms of electron scattering from the four Fermi pockets of the topological crystalline insulator surface states in the first surface Brillouin zone. A quantitative analysis of the energy dispersion of the quasiparticle interference intensity shows two high energy features related to the crossing point beyond the Lifshitz transition when the two neighboring low energy surface bands near the Χ point merge. We present two possible interpretations for the two high energy features due to different scattering vectors along the ΓΧ and ΧΜ line cuts. A comparison between the experimental and computed quasiparticle interference patterns reveals possible spin texture of the surface states.