Observation of quantum-tunnelling-modulated spin texture in ultrathin topological insulator Bi2Se3 films

Madhab Neupane; Anthony Richardella; Jaime Sánchez-Barriga; Su Yang Xu; Nasser Alidoust; Ilya Belopolski; Chang Liu; Guang Bian; Duming Zhang; Dmitry Marchenko; Andrei Varykhalov; Oliver Rader; Mats Leandersson; Thiagarajan Balasubramanian; Tay Rong Chang; Horng Tay Jeng; Susmita Basak; Hsin Lin; Arun Bansil; Nitin Samarth; M. Zahid Hasan

doi:10.1038/ncomms4841

Observation of quantum-tunnelling-modulated spin texture in ultrathin topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ films

Madhab Neupane, Anthony Richardella, Jaime Sánchez-Barriga, Su Yang Xu, Nasser Alidoust, Ilya Belopolski, Chang Liu, Guang Bian, Duming Zhang, Dmitry Marchenko, Andrei Varykhalov, Oliver Rader, Mats Leandersson, Thiagarajan Balasubramanian, Tay Rong Chang, Horng Tay Jeng, Susmita Basak, Hsin Lin, Arun Bansil, Nitin SamarthM. Zahid Hasan

Department of Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

121 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding the spin-texture behaviour of boundary modes in ultrathin topological insulator films is critically essential for the design and fabrication of functional nanodevices. Here, by using spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with p-polarized light in topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ thin films, we report tunnelling-dependent evolution of spin configuration in topological insulator thin films across the metal-to-insulator transition. We report a systematic binding energy- and wavevector-dependent spin polarization for the topological surface electrons in the ultrathin gapped-Dirac-cone limit. The polarization decreases significantly with enhanced tunnelling realized systematically in thin insulating films, whereas magnitude of the polarization saturates to the bulk limit faster at larger wavevectors in thicker metallic films. We present a theoretical model that captures this delicate relationship between quantum tunnelling and Fermi surface spin polarization. Our high-resolution spin-based spectroscopic results suggest that the polarization current can be tuned to zero in thin insulating films forming the basis for a future spin-switch nanodevice.

Original language	English
Article number	3841
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4841
Publication status	Published - 2014 May 12

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1038/ncomms4841

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Neupane, M., Richardella, A., Sánchez-Barriga, J., Xu, S. Y., Alidoust, N., Belopolski, I., Liu, C., Bian, G., Zhang, D., Marchenko, D., Varykhalov, A., Rader, O., Leandersson, M., Balasubramanian, T., Chang, T. R., Jeng, H. T., Basak, S., Lin, H., Bansil, A., ... Hasan, M. Z. (2014). Observation of quantum-tunnelling-modulated spin texture in ultrathin topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ films. Nature communications, 5, Article 3841. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4841

@article{5cd3a06d59444bf19c3f016f279f4229,

title = "Observation of quantum-tunnelling-modulated spin texture in ultrathin topological insulator Bi2Se3 films",

abstract = "Understanding the spin-texture behaviour of boundary modes in ultrathin topological insulator films is critically essential for the design and fabrication of functional nanodevices. Here, by using spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with p-polarized light in topological insulator Bi2Se3 thin films, we report tunnelling-dependent evolution of spin configuration in topological insulator thin films across the metal-to-insulator transition. We report a systematic binding energy- and wavevector-dependent spin polarization for the topological surface electrons in the ultrathin gapped-Dirac-cone limit. The polarization decreases significantly with enhanced tunnelling realized systematically in thin insulating films, whereas magnitude of the polarization saturates to the bulk limit faster at larger wavevectors in thicker metallic films. We present a theoretical model that captures this delicate relationship between quantum tunnelling and Fermi surface spin polarization. Our high-resolution spin-based spectroscopic results suggest that the polarization current can be tuned to zero in thin insulating films forming the basis for a future spin-switch nanodevice.",

author = "Madhab Neupane and Anthony Richardella and Jaime S{\'a}nchez-Barriga and Xu, {Su Yang} and Nasser Alidoust and Ilya Belopolski and Chang Liu and Guang Bian and Duming Zhang and Dmitry Marchenko and Andrei Varykhalov and Oliver Rader and Mats Leandersson and Thiagarajan Balasubramanian and Chang, {Tay Rong} and Jeng, {Horng Tay} and Susmita Basak and Hsin Lin and Arun Bansil and Nitin Samarth and Hasan, {M. Zahid}",

note = "Funding Information: Sample growth and ARPES characterization are supported by US DARPA (N66001-11-1-4110). The work at the Princeton University and Princeton-led synchrotron X-ray-based measurements and the related theory at the Northeastern University are supported by the Office of Basic Energy Science, US Department of Energy (grants DE-FG-02-05ER462000, AC03-76SF00098 and DE-FG02-07ER46352). M.Z.H. acknowledges visiting-scientist support from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and additional support from the A.P. Sloan Foundation. The spin-resolved and spin-integrated photoemission measurements using synchrotron X-ray facilities are supported by the Swedish Research Council, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the Basic Energy Sciences of the US Department of Energy. Theoretical computations are supported by the US Department of Energy (DE-FG02-07ER46352 and AC03-76SF00098) as well as the National Science Council and Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and benefited from the allocation of supercomputer time at NERSC and Northeastern University{\textquoteright}s Advanced Scientific Computation Center. H.L. acknowledges the Singapore National Research Foundation for the support under NRF Award No. NRF-NRFF2013-03. T.R.C. and H.T.J. are supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan. H.T.J. also thanks NCHC, CINC-NTU and NCTS, Taiwan, for technical support. We also thank S.-K. Mo and A. Fedorov for beamline assistance on spin-integrated photoemission measurements (supported by DE-FG02-05ER46200) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (The synchrotron facility is supported by the US DOE).",

year = "2014",

month = may,

day = "12",

doi = "10.1038/ncomms4841",

language = "English",

volume = "5",

journal = "Nature communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

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Neupane, M, Richardella, A, Sánchez-Barriga, J, Xu, SY, Alidoust, N, Belopolski, I, Liu, C, Bian, G, Zhang, D, Marchenko, D, Varykhalov, A, Rader, O, Leandersson, M, Balasubramanian, T, Chang, TR, Jeng, HT, Basak, S, Lin, H, Bansil, A, Samarth, N & Hasan, MZ 2014, 'Observation of quantum-tunnelling-modulated spin texture in ultrathin topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ films', Nature communications, vol. 5, 3841. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4841

TY - JOUR

T1 - Observation of quantum-tunnelling-modulated spin texture in ultrathin topological insulator Bi2Se3 films

AU - Neupane, Madhab

AU - Richardella, Anthony

AU - Sánchez-Barriga, Jaime

AU - Xu, Su Yang

AU - Alidoust, Nasser

AU - Belopolski, Ilya

AU - Liu, Chang

AU - Bian, Guang

AU - Zhang, Duming

AU - Marchenko, Dmitry

AU - Varykhalov, Andrei

AU - Rader, Oliver

AU - Leandersson, Mats

AU - Balasubramanian, Thiagarajan

AU - Chang, Tay Rong

AU - Jeng, Horng Tay

AU - Basak, Susmita

AU - Lin, Hsin

AU - Bansil, Arun

AU - Samarth, Nitin

AU - Hasan, M. Zahid

N1 - Funding Information: Sample growth and ARPES characterization are supported by US DARPA (N66001-11-1-4110). The work at the Princeton University and Princeton-led synchrotron X-ray-based measurements and the related theory at the Northeastern University are supported by the Office of Basic Energy Science, US Department of Energy (grants DE-FG-02-05ER462000, AC03-76SF00098 and DE-FG02-07ER46352). M.Z.H. acknowledges visiting-scientist support from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and additional support from the A.P. Sloan Foundation. The spin-resolved and spin-integrated photoemission measurements using synchrotron X-ray facilities are supported by the Swedish Research Council, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the Basic Energy Sciences of the US Department of Energy. Theoretical computations are supported by the US Department of Energy (DE-FG02-07ER46352 and AC03-76SF00098) as well as the National Science Council and Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and benefited from the allocation of supercomputer time at NERSC and Northeastern University’s Advanced Scientific Computation Center. H.L. acknowledges the Singapore National Research Foundation for the support under NRF Award No. NRF-NRFF2013-03. T.R.C. and H.T.J. are supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan. H.T.J. also thanks NCHC, CINC-NTU and NCTS, Taiwan, for technical support. We also thank S.-K. Mo and A. Fedorov for beamline assistance on spin-integrated photoemission measurements (supported by DE-FG02-05ER46200) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (The synchrotron facility is supported by the US DOE).

PY - 2014/5/12

Y1 - 2014/5/12

N2 - Understanding the spin-texture behaviour of boundary modes in ultrathin topological insulator films is critically essential for the design and fabrication of functional nanodevices. Here, by using spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with p-polarized light in topological insulator Bi2Se3 thin films, we report tunnelling-dependent evolution of spin configuration in topological insulator thin films across the metal-to-insulator transition. We report a systematic binding energy- and wavevector-dependent spin polarization for the topological surface electrons in the ultrathin gapped-Dirac-cone limit. The polarization decreases significantly with enhanced tunnelling realized systematically in thin insulating films, whereas magnitude of the polarization saturates to the bulk limit faster at larger wavevectors in thicker metallic films. We present a theoretical model that captures this delicate relationship between quantum tunnelling and Fermi surface spin polarization. Our high-resolution spin-based spectroscopic results suggest that the polarization current can be tuned to zero in thin insulating films forming the basis for a future spin-switch nanodevice.

AB - Understanding the spin-texture behaviour of boundary modes in ultrathin topological insulator films is critically essential for the design and fabrication of functional nanodevices. Here, by using spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with p-polarized light in topological insulator Bi2Se3 thin films, we report tunnelling-dependent evolution of spin configuration in topological insulator thin films across the metal-to-insulator transition. We report a systematic binding energy- and wavevector-dependent spin polarization for the topological surface electrons in the ultrathin gapped-Dirac-cone limit. The polarization decreases significantly with enhanced tunnelling realized systematically in thin insulating films, whereas magnitude of the polarization saturates to the bulk limit faster at larger wavevectors in thicker metallic films. We present a theoretical model that captures this delicate relationship between quantum tunnelling and Fermi surface spin polarization. Our high-resolution spin-based spectroscopic results suggest that the polarization current can be tuned to zero in thin insulating films forming the basis for a future spin-switch nanodevice.

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U2 - 10.1038/ncomms4841

DO - 10.1038/ncomms4841

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84900387221

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 5

JO - Nature communications

JF - Nature communications

M1 - 3841

ER -

Observation of quantum-tunnelling-modulated spin texture in ultrathin topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ films

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