The energy-momentum relationship of electrons on the surface of an ideal "Hydrogen-Atom" Topological Insulator forms a cone - a Dirac cone, which, when warped and distorted (no longer described by the Dirac equation), can lead to unusual phenomena such as enhanced electronic interference around defects (observed in STM) and a magnetically ordered broken symmetry surface with lost topological protection. A detailed spin-texture and hexagonal warping maps on Bi2Te3 are presented in this context as a Viewpoint on L.Fu, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{103}, 266801 (2009).
@article{arxiv.0912.5046,
title = {Spin-textures, Berry's phase and Quasiparticle Interference in Bi2Te3: A Topological Insulator with Warped Surface States},
author = {M. Z. Hasan and H. Lin and A. Bansil},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0912.5046},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Invited perspective article, Viewpoint on Topological Insulators in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2009)