Abstract
A topologically ordered material is characterized by a rare quantum organization of electrons that evades the conventional spontaneously broken symmetry–based classification of condensed matter. Exotic spin-transport phenomena, such as the dissipationless quantum spin Hall effect, have been speculated to originate from a topological order whose identification requires a spin-sensitive measurement, which does not exist to this date in any system. Using Mott polarimetry, we probed the spin degrees of freedom and demonstrated that topological quantum numbers are completely determined from spin texture–imaging measurements. Applying this method to Sb and Bi 1–x Sb x , we identified the origin of its topological order and unusual chiral properties. These results taken together constitute the first observation of surface electrons collectively carrying a topological quantum Berry's phase and definite spin chirality, which are the key electronic properties component for realizing topological quantum computing bits with intrinsic spin Hall–like topological phenomena.
Authors
13
- D. Hsieh (first)
- Y. Xia (additional)
- L. Wray (additional)
- D. Qian (additional)
- A. Pal (additional)
- J. H. Dil (additional)
- J. Osterwalder (additional)
- F. Meier (additional)
- G. Bihlmayer (additional)
- C. L. Kane (additional)
- Y. S. Hor (additional)
- R. J. Cava (additional)
- M. Z. Hasan (additional)
References
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- We thank J. Teo for providing the SS band calculations of antimony (Sb); A. Fedorov L. Patthey and D.-H. Lu for beamline assistance; and D. Haldane B. I. Halperin N. P. Ong D. A. Huse F. Wilczek P. W. Anderson D. C. Tsui J. E. Moore L. Fu L. Balents D.-H. Lee S. Sachdev P. A. Lee and X.-G. Wen for stimulating discussions. C.L.K. was supported by NSF grant DMR-0605066. The spin-resolved ARPES experiments are supported by NSF through the Center for Complex Materials (DMR-0819860) and Princeton University; the use of synchrotron X-ray facilities (ALS-LBNL Berkeley and SSRL-SLAC Stanford) is supported by the Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-FG-02–05ER46200) and by the Swiss Light Source Paul Scherrer Institute Villigen Switzerland.
Dates
Type | When |
---|---|
Created | 16 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 12, 2009, 8:30 p.m.) |
Deposited | 1 year, 7 months ago (Jan. 10, 2024, 3:55 a.m.) |
Indexed | 1 day, 12 hours ago (Aug. 23, 2025, 9:40 p.m.) |
Issued | 16 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 13, 2009) |
Published | 16 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 13, 2009) |
Published Print | 16 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 13, 2009) |
@article{Hsieh_2009, title={Observation of Unconventional Quantum Spin Textures in Topological Insulators}, volume={323}, ISSN={1095-9203}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1167733}, DOI={10.1126/science.1167733}, number={5916}, journal={Science}, publisher={American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}, author={Hsieh, D. and Xia, Y. and Wray, L. and Qian, D. and Pal, A. and Dil, J. H. and Osterwalder, J. and Meier, F. and Bihlmayer, G. and Kane, C. L. and Hor, Y. S. and Cava, R. J. and Hasan, M. Z.}, year={2009}, month=feb, pages={919–922} }