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Abstract
The discovery of topological insulators, materials with bulk band gaps and protected cross-gap surface states in compounds such as Bi2Se3, has generated much interest in identifying topological surface states (TSSs) in other classes of materials. In particular, recent theoretical calculations suggest that TSSs may be found in half-Heusler ternary compounds. If experimentally realizable, this would provide a materials platform for entirely new heterostructure spintronic devices that make use of the structurally identical but electronically varied nature of Heusler compounds. Here we show the presence of a TSS in epitaxially grown thin films of the half-Heusler compound PtLuSb. Spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, complemented by theoretical calculations, reveals a surface state with linear dispersion and a helical tangential spin texture consistent with previous predictions. This experimental verification of topological behaviour is a significant step forward in establishing half-Heusler compounds as a viable material system for future spintronic devices.
Highlights
The discovery of topological insulators, materials with bulk band gaps and protected cross-gap surface states in compounds such as Bi2Se3, has generated much interest in identifying topological surface states (TSSs) in other classes of materials
This band inversion is further predicted to induce the formation of a TSS with linear dispersion, spin– momentum locking and a Dirac-like crossing similar to those seen in Bi2Se3
Examining the ab-initio-calculated bulk band structure for PtLuSb (Fig. 1c), we observe that, unusually, owing to the position of the lower G8 band, the TSS should exist in a region where it threads between inverted bulk bands despite the presence of an extra bulk band
Summary
The discovery of topological insulators, materials with bulk band gaps and protected cross-gap surface states in compounds such as Bi2Se3, has generated much interest in identifying topological surface states (TSSs) in other classes of materials. We show the presence of a TSS in epitaxially grown thin films of the half-Heusler compound PtLuSb. Spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, complemented by theoretical calculations, reveals a surface state with linear dispersion and a helical tangential spin texture consistent with previous predictions. Spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, complemented by theoretical calculations, reveals a surface state with linear dispersion and a helical tangential spin texture consistent with previous predictions This experimental verification of topological behaviour is a significant step forward in establishing half-Heusler compounds as a viable material system for future spintronic devices. Topological insulators are a recently discovered new state of matter, which possess bulk band gaps and metallic surface states Their experimental realization in materials such as Bi2Se3 Experimental ARPES data are directly compared with new ab-initio calculations that further support the results
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