Ab initio study of 2DEG at the surface of topological insulator Bi2Te3 (original) (raw)

Over the past few years three dimensional topolog ical insulators (TIs) have attracted extensive interest due to their spin momentum locked metallic surface states (SSs) . These kinds of materials are narrow gap semiconductors characterized by an inverted energy gap caused by spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Unlike SSs in ordinary materials, these SSs show lin ear dispersion, forming a Dirac cone with a crossing (Dirac) point at/near the Fermi level (E F ) . This topological SS carries only a single electron per momentum with a spin that changes its direction con sistently with a change of momentum. The topological origin of the SS protects the Dirac cone from surface perturbations [1]. The unique electronic properties of the surface of the topological insulators make these materials important for many interesting applications, particularly in spintronics and quantum computing.