Abstract
He atom scattering has been demonstrated to be a sensitive probe of the electron–phonon interaction parameter λ at metal and metal-overlayer surfaces. Here it is shown that the theory linking λ to the thermal attenuation of atom scattering spectra (the Debye–Waller factor) can be applied to topological semimetal surfaces, such as the quasi-one-dimensional charge-density-wave system Bi(114) and the layered pnictogen chalcogenides. The electron−phonon coupling, as determined for several topological insulators belonging to the class of bismuth chalcogenides, suggests a dominant contribution of the surface quantum well states over the Dirac electrons in terms of λ.
Highlights
He atom scattering has been demonstrated to be a sensitive probe of the electron−phonon interaction parameter λ at metal and metal-overlayer surfaces
The e−ph interaction plays a relevant role in other transport properties, e.g., thermoelectricity, in low-dimensional systems such as layered Bi and Sb chalcogenides[3] and in quasi-crystalline materials which are often viewed as periodic solids in higher dimensions.[4]
helium atom scattering (HAS) can detect phonons spanning as many as 10 atomic layers in Pb films[8,9], providing the individual λQ,ν values for phonons which provide the dominant contributions to λ
Summary
The experimental data in this work was obtained on the HAS apparatus in Graz[61] and the 3He spin−echo scattering apparatus in Cambridge.[18]. The DW measurement of Bi2Te3 can be found in ref 13, while the DW data of Bi2Se3 is reported in ref 14. Most of the Bi(114) data has been published in the work of Hofmann et al.,[12] whereas the. Authors Giorgio Benedek − Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain; Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Università di Milano-Bicocca, 20125 Milano, Italy J. R. Manson − Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States Adrian Ruckhofer − Institute of Experimental Physics, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria; orcid.org/ 0000-0003-4368-8207 Wolfgang E. Ernst − Institute of Experimental Physics, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria; orcid.org/ 0000-0001-8849-5658.
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