Condensed Matter Journal Club

Bismuthene on a SiC substrate: A candidate for a high-temperature quantum spin Hall material

Wednesday, 14 February 2018 02:30PM PST
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Condensed Matter Journal Club
 
George Kirczenow
SFU Physics
 
Bismuthene on a SiC substrate: A candidate for a high-temperature quantum spin Hall material
 
Feb 14, 2018 at 2:30PM
 

Synopsis

Quantum spin Hall materials hold the promise of revolutionary devices with dissipationless spin currents but have required cryogenic temperatures owing to small energy gaps. Here we show theoretically that a room-temperature regime with a large energy gap may be achievable within a paradigm that exploits the atomic spin-orbit coupling. The concept
is based on a substrate-supported monolayer of a high–atomic number element and is experimentally realized as a bismuth honeycomb lattice on top of the insulating silicon carbide substrate SiC(0001). Using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy, we detect a gap of ~0.8 electron volt and conductive edge states consistent with theory. Our combined theoretical and experimental results demonstrate a concept for a quantum spin Hall wide-gap scenario, where the chemical potential resides in the global system gap, ensuring
robust edge conductance.