Research report 2014 - Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids

Hunting for the electrical properties of topological insulators

Authors
Höfer, Katharina; Becker, Christoph; Rata, Diana; Swanson, Jesse; Thalmeier, Peter; Tjeng, Liu Hao
Departments
Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Physik fester Stoffe, Dresden
Summary
Topological insulators form a novel state of matter that open up new opportunities to create unique quantum particles. Many exciting experiments have been proposed by theory, but still await their experimental verification, not to mention their implementation into applications. The main obstacle is the extrinsic conductivity associated with the unavoidable presence of defects in their bulk, as well as impurities on their surfaces. For Bi2Te3 films it is possible to obtain the desired quality by carrying out the preparation and characterization entirely under ultra-high vacuum conditions.

For the full text, see the German version.

Go to Editor View