Enhanced Mobility of Spin-Helical Dirac Fermions in Disordered 3D Topological Insulators

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Joseph Dufouleur - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Louis Veyrat - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden, Institut NÉEL (Author)
  • Bastien Dassonneville - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Christian Nowka - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Silke Hampel - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Pavel Leksin - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Barbara Eichler - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Oliver G. Schmidt - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Bernd Büchner - , Chair of Experimental Solid State Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Romain Giraud - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden, Université Grenoble Alpes (Author)

Abstract

The transport length ltr and the mean free path le are determined for bulk and surface states in a Bi2Se3 nanoribbon by quantum transport and transconductance measurements. We show that the anisotropic scattering of spin-helical Dirac fermions results in a strong enhancement of ltr (≈ 200 nm) and of the related mobility μtr (≈ 4000 cm2 V-1 s-1), which confirms theoretical predictions.1 Despite strong disorder, the long-range nature of the scattering potential gives a large ratio ltr/le ≈ 8, likely limited by bulk/surface coupling. This suggests that the spin-flip length lsf ≈ ltr could reach the micron size in materials with a reduced bulk doping and paves the way for building functionalized spintronic and ballistic electronic devices out of disordered 3D topological insulators.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6733-6737
Number of pages5
JournalNano letters
Volume16
Issue number11
Publication statusPublished - 9 Nov 2016
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

Keywords

  • anisotropic scattering, chemical vapor transport nanostructures, gate effect, quantum transport, Topological insulators