arXiv subjects

Ye-ping Jiang

Publications and source records attributed to Ye-ping Jiang.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Quasiparticle scattering in three-dimensional topological insulators near the thickness limit

In the ultra-thin regime, Bi2Te3 films feature two surfaces (with each surface being a two-dimensional Dirac-fermion system) with complicated spin textures and a tunneling term between them. We find in this regime that the quasiparticle scattering is completely different compared with the thick-film case and even behaves differently at each thickness. The thickness-dependent warping effect and tunneling term are found to be the two main factors that govern the scattering behaviors. The inter-band back-scattering that signals the existence of a tunneling term is found to disappear at 4 quintuple layers by the step-edge reflection approach. A four-band model is presented that captures the main features of the thickness-dependent scattering behaviors. Our work clarifies that the prohibition of back-scattering guaranteed by symmetry in topological insulators breaks down in the ultra-thin regime.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Berry-Phase Breakdown and Semiclassical Reconciliation in Topological Dirac Fock-Darwin states

I investigate the two-dimensional Dirac fermion analogue of artificial atoms (Fock-Darwin states, FD) in a circular n-p junction on a topological insulator surface. The FD states in this non-parabolic potential exhibit a unique electron-hole core-shell structure, where the strict Berry-phase switch (BPS) picture breaks down near criticality: the trapped electron-core states evolve into the envelope functions of quantized snake states. This contradicts the sharp BPS seen in experiments. Nevertheless, the BPS scenario remains valid when treating these envelope functions as effective confined states, thereby reconciling theory with experiment. The field-driven evolution from electrostatic to Landau-level confinement is tracked to 14 T experimentally and supported by simulations, establishing topological surface states as a tunable platform for Dirac physics beyond conventional quantum dots.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Berry-phase switch in electrostatically-confined topological surface states

Here we visualize the trapping of topological surface states in the circular n-p junctions on the top surface of the 7-quintuple-layer three dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) Sb2Te3 epitaxial films. As shown by spatially- and field-dependent tunneling spectra, these trapped resonances show field-induced splittings between the degenerate time-reversal-symmetric states at zero magnetic field. These behaviors are attributed unambiguously to Berry-phase switch by comparing the experimental data with both numerical and semi-classical simulations. The successful electrostatic trapping of topological surface states in epitaxial films and the observation of Berry-phase switch provide a rich platform of exploiting new ideas for TI-based quantum devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗