Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 10, 2026

Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Additional energy scale in SmB6 at low-temperature
1Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Nöthnitzer Str. 40, 01187 Dresden, Germany.
Abstract:
Topological insulators give rise to exquisite electronic properties because of their spin-momentum locked Dirac-cone-like band structure. Recently, it has been suggested that the required opposite parities between valence and conduction band along with strong spin-orbit coupling can be realized in correlated materials. Particularly, SmB6 has been proposed as candidate material for a topological Kondo insulator. Here we observe, by utilizing scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy down to 0.35 K, several states within the hybridization gap of about ±20 meV on well characterized (001) surfaces of SmB6. The spectroscopic response to impurities and magnetic fields allows to distinguish between dominating bulk and surface contributions to these states. The surface contributions develop particularly strongly below about 7 K, which can be understood in terms of a suppressed Kondo effect at the surface. Our high-resolution data provide insight into the electronic structure of SmB6, which reconciles many current discrepancies on this compound.
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Thermodynamic Potentials
Third Law of Thermodynamics
Free Energy Changes for Nonstandard States
Effects of Temperature on Free Energy
Energy Bands in Solids
Band Formation:
When atoms are brought close together, as in a solid, these discrete energy levels begin to split due to the overlap of electron orbitals from adjacent atoms. This split occurs because of the Pauli exclusion principle, which states...

