Tunneling spectroscopy of a magnetic adatoms on topological insulator surfaces

In this communication, we address the question of how the presence of a magnetic impurity on a topological insulator (TI) surface manifests in the inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) when such a system is probed by a STM. For this purpose, we consider a single magnetic adatom with arbitrary spin, whose dynamics is governed by the local magnetic anisotropy. The spin is exchange-coupled to two-dimensional helical surface electrons, corresponding to the surface of a three-dimensional TI like Bi2Se3, with its characteristic hexagonally warped Dirac cone band structure. Employing an effective exchange-tunneling model, we calculate the non-linear differential conductance from a spin-polarized STM tip to the helical substrate, valid in the perturbative regime of weak exchange-tunneling and including the nonequilibrium pumping of the adatom spin states. The interplay between the magnetic anisotropy and the spin-momentum locked surface electrons is shown to give a number of specific imprints in the IETS, which could be investigated by spin-resolved scanning tunneling spectroscopy.\\ M. Misiorny, M. Bjerngaard and J. Paaske, manuscript in preparation