Novel Spin-texture on the warped Dirac-cone surface states in topological insulators

2011/03/24 by Susmita Basak, Hsin Lin, L. A. Wray +4 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.84.121401

published as Phys. Rev. B 84 (R), 121401 (2011) · 4 pages, 3 figures

arxiv created 2011/03/24 · arxiv updated 2012/06/15

Abstract

We have investigated the nature of surface states in the Bi2Te3 family of three-dimensional topological insulators using first-principles calculations as well as model Hamiltonians. When the surface Dirac cone is warped due to Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling in rhombohedral structures, the spin acquires a finite out-of-plane component. We predict a novel in-plane spin-texture of the warped surface Dirac cone with spins not perpendicular to the electron momentum. Our k.p model calculation reveals that this novel in-plane spin-texture requires high order Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling terms.

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