Experimental detection of surface spin-polarized electron accumulation in topological insulators using scanning tunneling microscopy

S. Tyagi; M. Dreyer; D. Bowen; D. Hinkel; P. J. Taylor; A. L. Friedman; R. E. Butera; C. Krafft; I. Mayergoyz

Experimental detection of surface spin-polarized electron accumulation in topological insulators using scanning tunneling microscopy

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2020-04-08 v1

Authors: S. Tyagi , M. Dreyer , D. Bowen , D. Hinkel , P. J. Taylor , A. L. Friedman , R. E. Butera , C. Krafft , I. Mayergoyz

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Abstract

Spin-momentum locking in the surface mode of topological insulators (TI) leads to the surface accumulation of spin-polarized electrons caused by bias current flows through TI samples. Here, we demonstrate that scanning tunneling microscopy can be used to sense this surface spin-polarized electron accumulation. We present experimental results of this sensing for Sn-doped Bi $_2$ Se $_3$ samples by employing Fe-coated W tips as well as non-magnetic W tips. We observe a linear increase in the spin-accumulation as a function of bias current through TI samples.

Keywords

topological insulators spin-momentum locking spin-polarized electron accumulation scanning tunneling microscopy bi2se3 bias current

Cite

@article{arxiv.2004.03563,
  title  = {Experimental detection of surface spin-polarized electron accumulation in topological insulators using scanning tunneling microscopy},
  author = {S. Tyagi and M. Dreyer and D. Bowen and D. Hinkel and P. J. Taylor and A. L. Friedman and R. E. Butera and C. Krafft and I. Mayergoyz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.03563},
  year   = {2020}
}

Experimental detection of surface spin-polarized electron accumulation in topological insulators using scanning tunneling microscopy

Abstract

Keywords

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