Related papers: Topological phase transition and quantum spin Hall…
Recently, it was shown that quantum spin Hall insulator (QSHI) phase with a gap wide enough for practical applications can be realized in the ultra thin films constructed from two inversely stacked structural elements of trivial band…
The electronic states of a single Bi(111) bilayer and its edges, suggested as a two dimensional topological insulator, are investigated by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) and first-principles calculations. Well-ordered bilayer films…
Ultrathin topological insulator membranes are building blocks of exotic quantum matter. However, traditional epitaxy of these materials does not facilitate stacking in arbitrary orders, while mechanical exfoliation from bulk crystals is…
Based on a combination of $k \cdot p$ theory, band topology analysis and electronic structure calculations, we predict the (111) thin films of the SnTe class of three-dimensional (3D) topological crystalline insulators realize the quantum…
We measured the response of the surface state spectrum of epitaxial Sb2Te3 thin films to applied gate electric fields by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. The gate dependent shift of the Fermi level and the screening effect…
Material defects remain as the main bottleneck to the progress of topological insulators (TIs). In particular, efforts to achieve thin TI samples with dominant surface transport have always led to increased defects and degraded mobilities,…
Topological phases with insulating bulk and gapless surface or edge modes have attracted much attention because of their fundamental physics implications and potential applications in dissipationless electronics and spintronics. In this…
Quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulators have unique electronic properties, comprising a band gap in their two-dimensional interior and one-dimensional spin-polarized edge states in which current flows ballistically. In scanning tunneling…
Two-dimensional (2D) topological insulators (TIs) hold promise for applications in spintronics based on the fact that the propagation direction of edge electrons of a 2D TI is robustly linked to their spin origination. Here, with the use of…
Meeting of non-trivial topology with magnetism results in novel phases of matter, such as Quantum Anomalous Hall (QAH) or axion insulator phases. Even more exotic states with high and tunable Chern numbers are expected at the contact of…
Topologically protected edge channels show prospects for quantum devices. They have been found experimentally in two-dimensional (2D) quantum spin Hall insulators (QSHIs), weak topological insulators and higher-order topological insulators…
Three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TIs) are known to carry 2D Dirac-like topological surface states in which spin-momentum locking prohibits backscattering. When thinned down to a few nanometers, the hybridization between the…
Quantum spin Hall insulators, or synonymously known as 2D topological insulators, are crucial 2D systems hosting topologically protected edge states. The working temperature of this topological quantum phase is dictated by the inverted…
Topological insulators are new class of materials which are characterized by a bulk band gap like ordinary band insulator but have protected conducting states on their edge or surface. These states emerge out due to the combination of…
Topological phases, especially topological crystalline insulators (TCIs), have been intensively explored observed experimentally in three-dimensional (3D) materials. However, the two-dimensional (2D) films are explored much less than 3D…
Topological insulators are electronic materials that have a bulk band gap like an ordinary insulator, but have protected conducting states on their edge or surface. The 2D topological insulator is a quantum spin Hall insulator, which is a…
Bismuth antimony alloys (Bi$_x$Sb$_{1-x}$) provide a tuneable materials platform to study topological transport and spin-polarized surface states resulting from the nontrivial bulk electronic structure. In the two-dimensional limit, it is a…
This paper reviews recent developments in quantum transport and it presents recent efforts to explore the contribution of topological insulator boundary states to thermoelectricity in Bi$_2$Te$_3$ thin films. Although Bi$_2$Te$_3$ has been…
We grow nearly freestanding single-layer 1T'-WTe2 on graphitized 6H-SiC(0001) by using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and characterize its electronic structure with scanning tunneling microscopy / spectroscopy (STM/STS). We demonstrate the…
We review our recent theoretical works on the the quantum spin Hall effect. First we compare edge states in various 2D systems, and see whether they are robust or fragile against perturbations. Through the comparisons we see the robust…