Sn-doped Bi1.1Sb0.9Te2S bulk crystal topological insulator with excellent properties

Nat Commun. 2016 Apr 27:7:11456. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11456.

Abstract

A long-standing issue in topological insulator research has been to find a bulk single crystal material that provides a high-quality platform for characterizing topological surface states without interference from bulk electronic states. This material would ideally be a bulk insulator, have a surface state Dirac point energy well isolated from the bulk valence and conduction bands, display quantum oscillations from the surface state electrons and be growable as large, high-quality bulk single crystals. Here we show that this material obstacle is overcome by bulk crystals of lightly Sn-doped Bi1.1Sb0.9Te2S grown by the vertical Bridgman method. We characterize Sn-BSTS via angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, scanning tunnelling microscopy, transport studies, X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering. We present this material as a high-quality topological insulator that can be reliably grown as bulk single crystals and thus studied by many researchers interested in topological surface states.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.