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Autores principales: Coe, Aaron, Zhu, Zhi-Huai, He, Yang, Kim, Dae-Jeong, Fisk, Zachary, Hoffman, Jason, Hoffman, Jennifer
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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Acceso en línea:https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.10424
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author Coe, Aaron
Zhu, Zhi-Huai
He, Yang
Kim, Dae-Jeong
Fisk, Zachary
Hoffman, Jason
Hoffman, Jennifer
author_facet Coe, Aaron
Zhu, Zhi-Huai
He, Yang
Kim, Dae-Jeong
Fisk, Zachary
Hoffman, Jason
Hoffman, Jennifer
contents YbB$_6$ is a predicted topological insulator, with experimental evidence for conducting surface states of yet-unproven origin. However, its lack of a natural cleavage plane, and resultant surface-dependent polarity, has obscured its study. We use scanning tunneling microscopy to image the cleaved surface of YbB$_6$, exhibiting several coexisting terminations with distinct atomic structures. Our spectroscopic measurements show band-bending between the terminations, resulting in both conducting and fully-gapped regions. In the conductive regions, we observe spectral peaks that are suggestive of van Hove singularities arising from Rashba spin-split quantum well states. The insulating regions rule out the possibility that YbB$_6$ is a strong topological insulator, while the spin-polarized conducting regions suggest possible utility for spintronic devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_10424
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nanoscale Conducting and Insulating Domains on YbB$_6$
Coe, Aaron
Zhu, Zhi-Huai
He, Yang
Kim, Dae-Jeong
Fisk, Zachary
Hoffman, Jason
Hoffman, Jennifer
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
YbB$_6$ is a predicted topological insulator, with experimental evidence for conducting surface states of yet-unproven origin. However, its lack of a natural cleavage plane, and resultant surface-dependent polarity, has obscured its study. We use scanning tunneling microscopy to image the cleaved surface of YbB$_6$, exhibiting several coexisting terminations with distinct atomic structures. Our spectroscopic measurements show band-bending between the terminations, resulting in both conducting and fully-gapped regions. In the conductive regions, we observe spectral peaks that are suggestive of van Hove singularities arising from Rashba spin-split quantum well states. The insulating regions rule out the possibility that YbB$_6$ is a strong topological insulator, while the spin-polarized conducting regions suggest possible utility for spintronic devices.
title Nanoscale Conducting and Insulating Domains on YbB$_6$
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.10424