Topologically protected quantum transport in locally exfoliated bismuth at room temperature
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Title: | Topologically protected quantum transport in locally exfoliated bismuth at room temperature |
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Authors: | Sabater, Carlos | Gosálbez-Martínez, Daniel | Fernández-Rossier, Joaquín | Rodrigo Rodríguez, José Gabriel | Untiedt, Carlos | Palacios Burgos, Juan José |
Research Group/s: | Grupo de Nanofísica |
Center, Department or Service: | Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Física Aplicada |
Keywords: | Electrical conductance | Bi nanocontacts | Quantum spin Hall | Mechanical exfoliation | Room temperature |
Knowledge Area: | Física de la Materia Condensada |
Issue Date: | 23-Apr-2013 |
Publisher: | American Physical Society |
Citation: | Phys. Rev. Lett. 2013, 110: 176802 [5 pages]. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.176802 |
Abstract: | We report electrical conductance measurements of Bi nanocontacts created by repeated tip-surface indentation using a scanning tunneling microscope at temperatures of 4 and 300 K. As a function of the elongation of the nanocontact, we measure robust, tens of nanometers long plateaus of conductance G0=2e2/h at room temperature. This observation can be accounted for by the mechanical exfoliation of a Bi(111) bilayer, a predicted quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator, in the retracing process following a tip-surface contact. The formation of the bilayer is further supported by the additional observation of conductance steps below G0 before breakup at both temperatures. Our finding provides the first experimental evidence of the possibility of mechanical exfoliation of Bi bilayers, the existence of the QSH phase in a two-dimensional crystal, and, most importantly, the observation of the QSH phase at room temperature. |
Sponsor: | We thank the Spanish MICINN for financial support through Grants No. FIS2010-21883, No. FIS2011-23488, and No. CONSOLIDER CSD2007-0010, and Generalitat Valenciana through Grants No. ACCOMP/2012/127 and No. PROMETEO/2012/011. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10045/33599 |
ISSN: | 0031-9007 (Print) | 1079-7114 (Online) |
DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.176802 |
Language: | eng |
Type: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
Rights: | © 2013 American Physical Society |
Peer Review: | si |
Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.176802 |
Appears in Collections: | INV - Grupo de Nanofísica - Artículos de Revistas |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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PhysRevLett.110.176802.pdf | 1,67 MB | Adobe PDF | Open Preview | |
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