Topological Surface State in Epitaxial Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons
(2021) In Nano Letters 21(7). p.2876-2882- Abstract
Protected and spin-polarized transport channels are the hallmark of topological insulators, coming along with an intrinsic strong spin-orbit coupling. Here we identified such corresponding chiral states in epitaxially grown zigzag graphene nanoribbons (zz-GNRs), albeit with an extremely weak spin-orbit interaction. While the bulk of the monolayer zz-GNR is fully suspended across a SiC facet, the lower edge merges into the SiC(0001) substrate and reveals a surface state at the Fermi energy, which is extended along the edge and splits in energy toward the bulk. All of the spectroscopic details are precisely described within a tight binding model incorporating a Haldane term and strain effects. The concomitant breaking of time-reversal... (More)
Protected and spin-polarized transport channels are the hallmark of topological insulators, coming along with an intrinsic strong spin-orbit coupling. Here we identified such corresponding chiral states in epitaxially grown zigzag graphene nanoribbons (zz-GNRs), albeit with an extremely weak spin-orbit interaction. While the bulk of the monolayer zz-GNR is fully suspended across a SiC facet, the lower edge merges into the SiC(0001) substrate and reveals a surface state at the Fermi energy, which is extended along the edge and splits in energy toward the bulk. All of the spectroscopic details are precisely described within a tight binding model incorporating a Haldane term and strain effects. The concomitant breaking of time-reversal symmetry without the application of external magnetic fields is supported by ballistic transport revealing a conduction of G = e2/h.
(Less)
- author
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- ballistic transport channel, STM, tight binding, topological surface state, zigzag graphene nanoribbons
- in
- Nano Letters
- volume
- 21
- issue
- 7
- pages
- 7 pages
- publisher
- The American Chemical Society (ACS)
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:33819041
- scopus:85104276007
- ISSN
- 1530-6992
- DOI
- 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c05013
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 868b2c57-8784-4118-ac7e-9b3c696d1fc7
- date added to LUP
- 2021-04-26 09:32:49
- date last changed
- 2025-01-12 08:12:06
@article{868b2c57-8784-4118-ac7e-9b3c696d1fc7, abstract = {{<p>Protected and spin-polarized transport channels are the hallmark of topological insulators, coming along with an intrinsic strong spin-orbit coupling. Here we identified such corresponding chiral states in epitaxially grown zigzag graphene nanoribbons (zz-GNRs), albeit with an extremely weak spin-orbit interaction. While the bulk of the monolayer zz-GNR is fully suspended across a SiC facet, the lower edge merges into the SiC(0001) substrate and reveals a surface state at the Fermi energy, which is extended along the edge and splits in energy toward the bulk. All of the spectroscopic details are precisely described within a tight binding model incorporating a Haldane term and strain effects. The concomitant breaking of time-reversal symmetry without the application of external magnetic fields is supported by ballistic transport revealing a conduction of G = e2/h.</p>}}, author = {{Nguyen, Thi Thuy Nhung and de Vries, Niels and Karakachian, Hrag and Gruschwitz, Markus and Aprojanz, Johannes and Zakharov, Alexei A. and Polley, Craig and Balasubramanian, Thiagarajan and Starke, Ulrich and Flipse, Cornelis F.J. and Tegenkamp, Christoph}}, issn = {{1530-6992}}, keywords = {{ballistic transport channel; STM; tight binding; topological surface state; zigzag graphene nanoribbons}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{7}}, pages = {{2876--2882}}, publisher = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}}, series = {{Nano Letters}}, title = {{Topological Surface State in Epitaxial Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c05013}}, doi = {{10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c05013}}, volume = {{21}}, year = {{2021}}, }