Topological States Ruled by Stacking Faults in Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ and Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$

ORAL

Abstract

Extended defects like stacking faults (SF) can originate topologically protected metallic states in bulk topological insulators (TI). These induced topological states are a response to the weakening of the inter-layer van der Waals interactions due to the SF defect. In TI thin films the degeneracy of Dirac bands of opposite surfaces can be lifted upon the formation of SF defects. Such slab asymmetry can promote a net spin current, absent of backscattering processes, in thin film made of TIs. These results have been obtained by fully relativistic first principles calculations.

*The authors acknowledge financial support from CNPq/INCT, CAPES, FAPEMIG, and FAPESP, and the computational support from CENAPAD/SP.

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Authors

  • Leandro Seixas

    • Universidade de Sao Paulo

  • Leonardo Abdalla

    • Universidade de Sao Paulo

  • Tome Schmidt

    • Universidade Federal de Uberl\^andia
    • Universidade Federal de Uberlandia
    • Instituto de F\'{i}sica, Universidade Federal de Uberl\^{a}ndia

  • Adalberto Fazzio

    • University of S\~ao Paulo
    • Universidade de S\~ao Paulo
    • Universidade de Sao Paulo
    • Instituto de F\'{i}sica, Universidade de S\~{a}o Paulo

  • Roberto Miwa

    • Universidade Federal de Uberlandia
    • Instituto de F\'{i}sica, Universidade Federal de Uberl\^{a}ndia