2,351 research outputs found
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
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Ultra-low carrier concentration and surface dominant transport in Sb-doped Bi2Se3 topological insulator nanoribbons
A topological insulator is a new state of matter, possessing gapless
spin-locking surface states across the bulk band gap which has created new
opportunities from novel electronics to energy conversion. However, the large
concentration of bulk residual carriers has been a major challenge for
revealing the property of the topological surface state via electron transport
measurement. Here we report surface state dominated transport in Sb-doped
Bi2Se3 nanoribbons with very low bulk electron concentrations. In the
nanoribbons with sub-10nm thickness protected by a ZnO layer, we demonstrate
complete control of their top and bottom surfaces near the Dirac point,
achieving the lowest carrier concentration of 2x10^11/cm2 reported in
three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators. The Sb-doped Bi2Se3
nanostructures provide an attractive materials platform to study fundamental
physics in topological insulators, as well as future applications.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Gate-tuned normal and superconducting transport at the surface of a topological insulator
Three-dimensional topological insulators are characterized by the presence of
a bandgap in their bulk and gapless Dirac fermions at their surfaces. New
physical phenomena originating from the presence of the Dirac fermions are
predicted to occur, and to be experimentally accessible via transport
measurements in suitably designed electronic devices. Here we study transport
through superconducting junctions fabricated on thin Bi2Se3 single crystals,
equipped with a gate electrode. In the presence of perpendicular magnetic field
B, sweeping the gate voltage enables us to observe the filling of the Dirac
fermion Landau levels, whose character evolves continuously from electron- to
hole-like. When B=0, a supercurrent appears, whose magnitude can be gate tuned,
and is minimum at the charge neutrality point determined from the Landau level
filling. Our results demonstrate how gated nano-electronic devices give control
over normal and superconducting transport of Dirac fermions at an individual
surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure
Two-dimensional universal conductance fluctuations and the electron-phonon interaction of topological surface states in Bi2Te2Se nanoribbons
The universal conductance fluctuations (UCFs), one of the most important
manifestations of mesoscopic electronic interference, have not yet been
demonstrated for the two-dimensional surface state of topological insulators
(TIs). Even if one delicately suppresses the bulk conductance by improving the
quality of TI crystals, the fluctuation of the bulk conductance still keeps
competitive and difficult to be separated from the desired UCFs of surface
carriers. Here we report on the experimental evidence of the UCFs of the
two-dimensional surface state in the bulk insulating Bi2Te2Se nanoribbons. The
solely-B\perp-dependent UCF is achieved and its temperature dependence is
investigated. The surface transport is further revealed by weak
antilocalizations. Such survived UCFs of the topological surface states result
from the limited dephasing length of the bulk carriers in ternary crystals. The
electron-phonon interaction is addressed as a secondary source of the surface
state dephasing based on the temperature-dependent scaling behavior
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EM-mosaic detects mosaic point mutations that contribute to congenital heart disease.
BackgroundThe contribution of somatic mosaicism, or genetic mutations arising after oocyte fertilization, to congenital heart disease (CHD) is not well understood. Further, the relationship between mosaicism in blood and cardiovascular tissue has not been determined.MethodsWe developed a new computational method, EM-mosaic (Expectation-Maximization-based detection of mosaicism), to analyze mosaicism in exome sequences derived primarily from blood DNA of 2530 CHD proband-parent trios. To optimize this method, we measured mosaic detection power as a function of sequencing depth. In parallel, we analyzed our cohort using MosaicHunter, a Bayesian genotyping algorithm-based mosaic detection tool, and compared the two methods. The accuracy of these mosaic variant detection algorithms was assessed using an independent resequencing method. We then applied both methods to detect mosaicism in cardiac tissue-derived exome sequences of 66 participants for which matched blood and heart tissue was available.ResultsEM-mosaic detected 326 mosaic mutations in blood and/or cardiac tissue DNA. Of the 309 detected in blood DNA, 85/97 (88%) tested were independently confirmed, while 7/17 (41%) candidates of 17 detected in cardiac tissue were confirmed. MosaicHunter detected an additional 64 mosaics, of which 23/46 (50%) among 58 candidates from blood and 4/6 (67%) of 6 candidates from cardiac tissue confirmed. Twenty-five mosaic variants altered CHD-risk genes, affecting 1% of our cohort. Of these 25, 22/22 candidates tested were confirmed. Variants predicted as damaging had higher variant allele fraction than benign variants, suggesting a role in CHD. The estimated true frequency of mosaic variants above 10% mosaicism was 0.14/person in blood and 0.21/person in cardiac tissue. Analysis of 66 individuals with matched cardiac tissue available revealed both tissue-specific and shared mosaicism, with shared mosaics generally having higher allele fraction.ConclusionsWe estimate that ~ 1% of CHD probands have a mosaic variant detectable in blood that could contribute to cardiac malformations, particularly those damaging variants with relatively higher allele fraction. Although blood is a readily available DNA source, cardiac tissues analyzed contributed ~ 5% of somatic mosaic variants identified, indicating the value of tissue mosaicism analyses
Topological crystalline insulator states in Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Se
Topological insulators are a novel class of quantum materials in which
time-reversal symmetry, relativistic (spin-orbit) effects and an inverted band
structure result in electronic metallic states on the surfaces of bulk
crystals. These helical states exhibit a Dirac-like energy dispersion across
the bulk bandgap, and they are topologically protected. Recent theoretical
proposals have suggested the existence of topological crystalline insulators, a
novel class of topological insulators in which crystalline symmetry replaces
the role of time-reversal symmetry in topological protection [1,2]. In this
study, we show that the narrow-gap semiconductor Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Se is a
topological crystalline insulator for x=0.23. Temperature-dependent
magnetotransport measurements and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy
demonstrate that the material undergoes a temperature-driven topological phase
transition from a trivial insulator to a topological crystalline insulator.
These experimental findings add a new class to the family of topological
insulators. We expect these results to be the beginning of both a considerable
body of additional research on topological crystalline insulators as well as
detailed studies of topological phase transitions.Comment: v2: published revised manuscript (6 pages, 3 figures) and
supplementary information (5 pages, 8 figures
Josephson supercurrent through a topological insulator surface state
Topological insulators are characterized by an insulating bulk with a finite
band gap and conducting edge or surface states, where charge carriers are
protected against backscattering. These states give rise to the quantum spin
Hall effect without an external magnetic field, where electrons with opposite
spins have opposite momentum at a given edge. The surface energy spectrum of a
threedimensional topological insulator is made up by an odd number of Dirac
cones with the spin locked to the momentum. The long-sought yet elusive
Majorana fermion is predicted to arise from a combination of a superconductor
and a topological insulator. An essential step in the hunt for this emergent
particle is the unequivocal observation of supercurrent in a topological phase.
Here, we present the first measurement of a Josephson supercurrent through a
topological insulator. Direct evidence for Josephson supercurrents in
superconductor (Nb) - topological insulator (Bi2Te3) - superconductor e-beam
fabricated junctions is provided by the observation of clear Shapiro steps
under microwave irradiation, and a Fraunhofer-type dependence of the critical
current on magnetic field. The dependence of the critical current on
temperature and length shows that the junctions are in the ballistic limit.
Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in magnetic fields up to 30 T reveal a
topologically non-trivial two-dimensional surface state. We argue that the
ballistic Josephson current is hosted by this surface state despite the fact
that the normal state transport is dominated by diffusive bulk conductivity.
The lateral Nb-Bi2Te3-Nb junctions hence provide prospects for the realization
of devices supporting Majorana fermions
Combinatorial CRISPR-Cas9 screens for de novo mapping of genetic interactions.
We developed a systematic approach to map human genetic networks by combinatorial CRISPR-Cas9 perturbations coupled to robust analysis of growth kinetics. We targeted all pairs of 73 cancer genes with dual guide RNAs in three cell lines, comprising 141,912 tests of interaction. Numerous therapeutically relevant interactions were identified, and these patterns replicated with combinatorial drugs at 75% precision. From these results, we anticipate that cellular context will be critical to synthetic-lethal therapies
Systematic detection of putative tumor suppressor genes through the combined use of exome and transcriptome sequencing
Abstract Background To identify potential tumor suppressor genes, genome-wide data from exome and transcriptome sequencing were combined to search for genes with loss of heterozygosity and allele-specific expression. The analysis was conducted on the breast cancer cell line HCC1954, and a lymphoblast cell line from the same individual, HCC1954BL. Results By comparing exome sequences from the two cell lines, we identified loss of heterozygosity events at 403 genes in HCC1954 and at one gene in HCC1954BL. The combination of exome and transcriptome sequence data also revealed 86 and 50 genes with allele specific expression events in HCC1954 and HCC1954BL, which comprise 5.4% and 2.6% of genes surveyed, respectively. Many of these genes identified by loss of heterozygosity and allele-specific expression are known or putative tumor suppressor genes, such as BRCA1, MSH3 and SETX, which participate in DNA repair pathways. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the combined application of high throughput sequencing to exome and allele-specific transcriptome analysis can reveal genes with known tumor suppressor characteristics, and a shortlist of novel candidates for the study of tumor suppressor activities
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