The DOI matches its Crossref record; 31 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Topological surface states protected from backscattering by chiral spin texture
Open accessAbstract
Topological insulators are a new class of insulators in which a bulk gap for electronic excitations is generated because of the strong spin-orbit coupling inherent to these systems. These materials are distinguished from ordinary insulators by the presence of gapless metallic surface states, resembling chiral edge modes in quantum Hall systems, but with unconventional spin textures. A key predicted feature of such spin-textured boundary states is their insensitivity to spin-independent scattering, which is thought to protect them from backscattering and localization. Recently, experimental and theoretical efforts have provided strong evidence for the existence of both two- and three-dimensional classes of such topological insulator materials in semiconductor quantum well structures and several bismuth-based compounds, but so far experiments have not probed the sensitivity of these chiral states to scattering. Here we use scanning tunnelling spectroscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to visualize the gapless surface states in the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi(1-x)Sb(x), and examine in detail the influence of scattering from disorder caused by random alloying in this compound. We show that, despite strong atomic scale disorder, backscattering between states of opposite momentum and opposite spin is absent. Our observations demonstrate that the chiral nature of these states protects the spin of the carriers. These chiral states are therefore potentially useful for spin-based electronics, in which long spin coherence is critical, and also for quantum computing applications, where topological protection can enable fault-tolerant information processing.
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In the citing paper
“The fact that the chiral two-dimensional states are indeed protected from spin-independent scattering was established by Roushan et.al. (20) by combining results from scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STM/STS) and spinARPES on Bi 0 . 92 Sb 0 . 08 .”
From Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators (2011) · cites this paper as [20]
In the citing paper
“The results show that despite strong atomic scale disorder and random potential, elastic-backscattering between states of opposite momentum and opposite spin is absent.”
From Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators (2011) · cites this paper as [20]
In the citing paper
“Most of the observed features in the interference pattern, including the extinction of wave vector ⃗ q 3 , have been recently well explained by a full theoretical treatment [27] based on the T-matrix approach for multiband systems [28].”
From Experimental Demonstration of Topological Surface States Protected by Time-Reversal Symmetry (2009) · cites this paper as [27]
In the citing paper
“The helical spin texture has also been calculated from ab initio method[45] and already observed in the pioneering spinresolved APRES measurement[18].”
From Model Hamiltonian for topological insulators (2010) · cites this paper as [18]
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Citations
Cites
Spintronics: A Spin-Based Electronics Vision for the Future
Wolf, S. A., Awschalom, D. D., Buhrman, R. A., Daughton, J. M., von Molnár, S., Roukes, M. L., Chtchelkanova, A., & Treger, D. M. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1065389 · Cited by 11,464
Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells
Bernevig, B. A., Hughes, T. L., & Zhang, S.-C. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1133734 · Cited by 7,090
Z 2 Topological Order and the Quantum Spin Hall Effect
Kane, C. L., & Mele, E. J. (2005) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.95.146802 · Cited by 6,460
Topological insulators in Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 with a single Dirac cone on the surface
Zhang, H., Liu, C.-X., Qi, X.-L., Dai, X., Fang, Z., & Zhang, S.-C. (2009) · Nature Physics · doi:10.1038/nphys1270 · Cited by 6,359
Quantum Spin Hall Insulator State in HgTe Quantum Wells
König, M., Wiedmann, S., Brüne, C., Roth, A., Buhmann, H., Molenkamp, L. W., Qi, X.-L., & Zhang, S.-C. (2007) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1148047 · Cited by 6,151
Superconducting Proximity Effect and Majorana Fermions at the Surface of a Topological Insulator
Fu, L., & Kane, C. L. (2008) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.096407 · Cited by 4,868
Topological Insulators in Three Dimensions
Fu, L., Kane, C. L., & Mele, E. J. (2007) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.98.106803 · Cited by 4,651
Topological insulators with inversion symmetry
Fu, L., & Kane, C. L. (2007) · Physical Review B · doi:10.1103/physrevb.76.045302 · Cited by 4,252
A topological Dirac insulator in a quantum spin Hall phase
Hsieh, D., Qian, D., Wray, L., Xia, Y., Hor, Y. S., Cava, R. J., & Hasan, M. Z. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06843 · Cited by 3,523
Self-citationTopological invariants of time-reversal-invariant band structures
Moore, J. E., & Balents, L. (2007) · Physical Review B · doi:10.1103/physrevb.75.121306 · Cited by 2,350
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Roy, R. On the Z2 classification of quantum spin Hall models. Preprint at 〈 http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0604211v2 〉 (2006) · arXiv
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Colloquium : Topological insulators
Hasan, M. Z., & Kane, C. L. (2010) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.82.3045 · Cited by 19,930
Self-citationTopological insulators and superconductors
Qi, X.-L., & Zhang, S.-C. (2011) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.83.1057 · Cited by 14,394
Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities in Two-Dimensional Materials Beyond Graphene
Butler, S., Hollen, S., Cao, L., Cui, Y., Gupta, J., Gutiérrez, H. R., Heinz, T. F., Hong, S. S., Huang, J., Ismach, A. F., et al. (2013) · ACS Nano · doi:10.1021/nn400280c · Cited by 4,914
The birth of topological insulators
Moore, J. E. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08916 · Cited by 3,232
Classification of topological quantum matter with symmetries
Chiu, C.-K., Teo, J. C. Y., Schnyder, A. P., & Ryu, S. (2016) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.88.035005 · Cited by 2,736
Metadata
- Authors
- Roushan, P., Seo, J., Parker, C. V., Hor, Y. S., Hsieh, D., Qian, D., Richardella, A., Hasan, M. Z., Cava, R. J., & Yazdani, A.
- Affiliations
- Princeton University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Yazdani, Ali
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2009-08
- Volume
- 460
- Issue
- 7259
- Pages
- 1106-1109
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2080500375
- Cited by
- 1,052
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 35 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 53 · 2018: 63 · 2017: 73 · 2016: 75 · 2015: 83 · 2014: 73 · 2013: 95 · 2012: 102
- FWCI
- 44.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DORA PSI (Paul Scherrer Institute) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Princeton Center for Complex Materials
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Magnetic properties of thin films
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Advanced Condensed Matter Physics
- Keywords
- topological insulators, chiral surface states, spin-orbit coupling, spin textures, Bi1-xSbx, spintronics, quantum Hall edge states, three-dimensional topological insulators, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, angle-resolved photoemission, surface states
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