Resonance effects in thickness-dependent ultrafast carrier and phonon dynamics of topological insulator Bi2Se3.

Resonance effects in the thickness-dependent ultrafast carrier and phonon dynamics of topological insulator Bi2Se3 are found irrespective of the kind of substrate by measuring thickness-dependent abrupt changes of pump-probe differential-reflectivity signals (ΔR/R) from Bi2Se3 thin films on four different substrates of poly- and single-crystalline (sc-) ZnO, sc-GaN and SiO2. The absolute peak intensity of the ΔR/R is maximized at ∼t C (6 ∼ 9 quintuple layers), which is not directly related to but is very close to the critical thickness below which the energy gap opens. The intensities of the two phonon modes deduced from the oscillatory behaviors superimposed on the ΔR/R profiles are also peaked at ∼t C for the four kinds of substrates, consistent with the thickness-dependent Raman-scattering behaviors. These resonant effects and others are discussed based on possible physical mechanisms including the effects of three-dimensional carrier depletion and intersurface coupling.

Transferring MBE-grown topological insulator films to arbitrary substrates and metal-insulator transition via Dirac gap.

Mechanical exfoliation of bulk crystals has been widely used to obtain thin topological insulator (TI) flakes for device fabrication. However, such a process produces only microsized flakes that are highly irregular in shape and thickness. In this work, we developed a process to transfer the entire area of TI Bi2Se3 thin films grown epitaxially on Al2O3 and SiO2 to arbitrary substrates, maintaining their pristine morphology and crystallinity. Transport measurements show that these transferred films have lower carrier concentrations and comparable or higher mobilities than before the transfer. Furthermore, using this process we demonstrated a clear metal-insulator transition in an ultrathin Bi2Se3 film by gate-tuning its Fermi level into the hybridization gap formed at the Dirac point. The ability to transfer large area TI films to any substrate will facilitate fabrication of TI heterostructure devices, which will help explore exotic phenomena such as Majorana fermions and topological magnetoelectricity.

Emergence of decoupled surface transport channels in bulk insulating Bi(2)Se(3) thin films.

In ideal topological insulator (TI) films the bulk state, which is supposed to be insulating, should not provide any electric coupling between the two metallic surfaces. However, transport studies on existing TI films show that the topological states on opposite surfaces are electrically tied to each other at thicknesses far greater than the direct coupling limit where the surface wave functions overlap. Here, we show that as the conducting bulk channels are suppressed, the parasitic coupling effect diminishes, and the decoupled surface channels emerge as expected for ideal TIs. In Bi(2)Se(3) thin films with fully suppressed bulk states, the two surfaces, which are directly coupled below ∼10 QL, become gradually isolated with increasing thickness and are completely decoupled beyond ∼20 QL. On such a platform, it is now feasible to implement transport devices whose functionality relies on accessing the individual surface layers without any deleterious coupling effects.

Thickness-independent transport channels in topological insulator Bi(2)Se(3) thin films.

With high quality topological insulator Bi(2)Se(3) thin films, we report thickness-independent transport properties over wide thickness ranges. Conductance remained nominally constant as the sample thickness changed from 256 to ∼8 QL (where QL refers to quintuple layer, 1 QL≈1 nm). Two surface channels of very different behaviors were identified. The sheet carrier density of one channel remained constant at ∼3.0×10(13) cm(-2) down to 2 QL, while the other, which exhibited quantum oscillations, remained constant at ∼8×10(12) cm(-2) only down to ∼8 QL. The weak antilocalization parameters also exhibited similar thickness independence. These two channels are most consistent with the topological surface states and the surface accumulation layers, respectively.

Topological-metal to band-insulator transition in (Bi(1-x)In(x))2Se3 thin films.

By combining transport and photoemission measurements on (Bi(1-x)In(x))(2)Se(3) thin films, we report that this system transforms from a topologically nontrivial metal into a topologically trivial band insulator through three quantum phase transitions. At x ≈ 3%-7%, there is a transition from a topologically nontrivial metal to a trivial metal. At x ≈ 15%, the metal becomes a variable-range-hopping insulator. Finally, above x ≈ 25%, the system becomes a true band insulator with its resistance immeasurably large even at room temperature. This material provides a new venue to investigate topologically tunable physics and devices with seamless gating or tunneling insulators.

Anisotropic Terahertz Emission from Bi2Se3 Thin Films with Inclined Crystal Planes.

We investigate the surface states of topological insulator (TI) Bi2Se3 thin films grown on Si nanocrystals and Al2O3 substrates by using terahertz (THz) emission spectroscopy. Compared to bulk crystalline Bi2Te2Se, film TIs exhibit distinct behaviors in the phase and amplitude of emitted THz radiation. In particular, Bi2Se3 grown on Al2O3 shows an anisotropic response with a strong modulation of the THz signal in its phase. From x-ray diffraction, we find that the crystal plane of the Bi2Se3 films is inclined with respect to the plane of the Al2O3 substrate by about 0.27°. This structural anisotropy affects the dynamics of photocarriers and hence leads to the observed anisotropic response in the THz emission. Such relevance demonstrates that THz emission spectroscopy can be a sensitive tool to investigate the fine details of the surface crystallography and electrostatics of thin film TIs.