Observation of topologically protected states at crystalline phase boundaries in single-layer WSe2

Transition metal dichalcogenide materials are unique in the wide variety of structural and electronic phases they exhibit in the two-dimensional limit. Here we show how such polymorphic flexibility can be used to achieve topological states at highly ordered phase boundaries in a new quantum spin Hal...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ugeda, Miguel M., Pulkin, Artem, Tang, Shujie, Ryu, Hyejin, Wu, Quansheng, Zhang, Yi, Wong, Dillon, Pedramrazi, Zahra, Martín-Recio, Ana, Chen, Yi, Wang, Feng, Shen, Zhi-Xun, Mo, Sung-Kwan, Yazyev, Oleg V., Crommie, Michael F.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/178193
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/178193
Access Level:acceso abierto
Descripción
Sumario:Transition metal dichalcogenide materials are unique in the wide variety of structural and electronic phases they exhibit in the two-dimensional limit. Here we show how such polymorphic flexibility can be used to achieve topological states at highly ordered phase boundaries in a new quantum spin Hall insulator (QSHI), 1T'-WSe2. We observe edge states at the crystallographically aligned interface between a quantum spin Hall insulating domain of 1T'-WSe2 and a semiconducting domain of 1H-WSe2 in contiguous single layers. The QSHI nature of single-layer 1T'-WSe2 is verified using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to determine band inversion around a 120 meV energy gap, as well as scanning tunneling spectroscopy to directly image edge-state formation. Using this edge-state geometry we confirm the predicted penetration depth of one-dimensional interface states into the two-dimensional bulk of a QSHI for a well-specified crystallographic direction. These interfaces create opportunities for testing predictions of the microscopic behavior of topologically protected boundary states.