Quantum oscillations in a topological insulator Bi_{1-x}Sb_{x}

We have studied transport and magnetic properties of Bi_{1-x}Sb_x, which is believed to be a topological insulator - a new state of matter where an insulating bulk supports an intrinsically metallic surface. In nominally insulating Bi_{0.91}Sb_{0.09} crystals, we observed strong quantum oscillations of the magnetization and the resistivity originating from a Fermi surface which has a clear two-dimensional character. In addition, a three-dimensional Fermi surface is found to coexist, which is possibly due to an unusual coupling of the bulk to the surface. This finding demonstrates that quantum oscillations can be a powerful tool to directly probe the novel electronic states in topological insulators.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

FMR Study of Co/Ti Bilayer Thin Films

. We focused on the interaction between two ferromagnetic cobalt layers through a non-magnetic titanium layer. The magnetic properties of the structure were characterized by ferromagnetic resonance technique (FMR). The data were collected as a function of non-magnetic titanium layer thickness. Co/Ti multilayer (Ti (50 {\AA})/Co(45 {\AA})/Ti(2-40 {\AA})/Co(40 {\AA})/Ti(100 {\AA}))films were grown onto naturally oxidized p-type single crystal Si (100) substrate at UHV condition with magnetron sputtering system at room temperature. The thickness of Ti spacer layer ranges from 2 to 40 {\AA} with 2 {\AA} steps. We did not observe usual optic and acoustic modes; instead we had two broad overlapped peaks for the films ranged from 6 {\AA} to 40 {\AA}. One interesting result was the high anisotropic resonance field values for these films. Exchange coupling between ferromagnetic layers causes shift on resonance field values but these shifts in our samples were much larger than expected. This large anisotropic behavior is not clear at the moment. Our theoretical model was not able to determine a value for the exchange coupling parameter. One reason can be the close thickness values for Co sublayers. The other reason can be the Ti non-magnetic layer. If titanium did not grow layer by layer on cobalt, the cobalt ferromagnetic layers may behave as a single layer. As a result one cannot observe exchange interaction between ferromagnetic layers through non-magnetic spacer.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Oscillatory angular dependence of the magnetoresistance in a topological insulator Bi_{1-x}Sb_{x}

The angular-dependent magnetoresistance and the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are studied in a topological insulator Bi_{0.91}Sb_{0.09}, where the two-dimensional (2D) surface states coexist with a three-dimensional (3D) bulk Fermi surface (FS). Two distinct types of oscillatory phenomena are discovered in the angular-dependence: The one observed at lower fields is shown to originate from the surface state, which resides on the (2\bar{1}\bar{1}) plane, giving a new way to distinguish the 2D surface state from the 3D FS. The other one, which becomes prominent at higher fields, probably comes from the (111) plane and is obviously of unknown origin, pointing to new physics in transport properties of topological insulators.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, revised version with improved data and analysi

Angular-dependent oscillations of the magnetoresistance in Bi_2Se_3 due to the three-dimensional bulk Fermi surface

We observed pronounced angular-dependent magnetoresistance (MR) oscillations in a high-quality Bi2Se3 single crystal with the carrier density of 5x10^18 cm^-3, which is a topological insulator with residual bulk carriers. We show that the observed angular-dependent oscillations can be well simulated by using the parameters obtained from the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, which clarifies that the oscillations are solely due to the bulk Fermi surface. By completely elucidating the bulk oscillations, this result paves the way for distinguishing the two-dimensional surface state in angular-dependent MR studies in Bi2Se3 with much lower carrier density. Besides, the present result provides a compelling demonstration of how the Landau quantization of an anisotropic three-dimensional Fermi surface can give rise to pronounced angular-dependent MR oscillations.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Large bulk resistivity and surface quantum oscillations in the topological insulator Bi2Te2Se

Topological insulators are predicted to present novel surface transport phenomena, but their experimental studies have been hindered by a metallic bulk conduction that overwhelms the surface transport. We show that a new topological insulator, Bi2Te2Se, presents a high resistivity exceeding 1 Ohm-cm and a variable-range hopping behavior, and yet presents Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations coming from the surface Dirac fermions. Furthermore, we have been able to clarify both the bulk and surface transport channels, establishing a comprehensive understanding of the transport in this material. Our results demonstrate that Bi2Te2Se is the best material to date for studying the surface quantum transport in a topological insulator.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Spin-Orbit Coupling and Anomalous Angular-Dependent Magnetoresistance in the Quantum Transport Regime of PbS

We measured magnetotransport properties of PbS single crystals which exhibit the quantum linear magnetoresistance (MR) as well as the static skin effect that creates a surface layer of additional conductivity. The Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in the longitudinal MR signify the peculiar role of spin-orbit coupling. In the angular-dependent MR, sharp peaks are observed when the magnetic field is slightly inclined from the longitudinal configuration, which is totally unexpected for a system with nearly spherical Fermi surface and points to an intricate interplay between the spin-orbit coupling and the conducting surface layer in the quantum transport regime.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Landau level spectroscopy of surface states in the topological insulator Bi0.91_{0.91}Sb0.09_{0.09} via magneto-optics

We have performed broad-band zero-field and magneto-infrared spectroscopy of the three dimensional topological insulator Bi$_{0.91}$Sb$_{0.09}$. The zero-field results allow us to measure the value of the direct band gap between the conducting $L_a$ and valence $L_s$ bands. Under applied field in the Faraday geometry (\emph{k} $||$ \emph{H} $||$ C1), we measured the presence of a multitude of Landau level (LL) transitions, all with frequency dependence $\omega \propto \sqrt{H}$. We discuss the ramification of this observation for the surface and bulk properties of topological insulators.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, March Meeting 2011 Abstract: J35.0000

Observations of two-dimensional quantum oscillations and ambipolar transport in the topological insulator Bi2Se3 achieved by Cd doping

We present a defect-engineering strategy to optimize the transport properties of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 to show a high bulk resistivity and clear quantum oscillations. Starting with a p-type Bi2Se3 obtained by combining Cd doping and a Se-rich crystal-growth condition, we were able to observe a p-to-n-type conversion upon gradually increasing the Se vacancies by post annealing. With the optimal annealing condition where a high level of compensation is achieved, the resistivity exceeds 0.5 Ohmcm at 1.8 K and we observed two-dimensional Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations composed of multiple frequencies in magnetic fields below 14 T.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Band structure engineering in (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 ternary topological insulators

Three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TI) are novel quantum materials with insulating bulk and topologically protected metallic surfaces with Dirac-like band structure. The spin-helical Dirac surface states are expected to host exotic topological quantum effects and find applications in spintronics and quantum computation. The experimental realization of these ideas requires fabrication of versatile devices based on bulk-insulating TIs with tunable surface states. The main challenge facing the current TI materials exemplified by Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 is the significant bulk conduction, which remains unsolved despite extensive efforts involving nanostructuring, chemical doping and electrical gating. Here we report a novel approach for engineering the band structure of TIs by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 ternary compounds. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and transport measurements show that the topological surface states exist over the entire composition range of (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 (x = 0 to 1), indicating the robustness of bulk Z2 topology. Most remarkably, the systematic band engineering leads to ideal TIs with truly insulating bulk and tunable surface state across the Dirac point that behave like one quarter of graphene. This work demonstrates a new route to achieving intrinsic quantum transport of the topological surface states and designing conceptually new TI devices with well-established semiconductor technology.Comment: Minor changes in title, text and figures. Supplementary information adde