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Published on: October 19, 2022
Quantum-Hall to Insulator Transition in Ultra-Low-Carrier-Density Topological Insulator Films and a Hidden Phase of
Maryam Salehi1, Hassan Shapourian2, Ilan Thomas Rosen3,4
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
Abstract:
A key feature of the topological surface state under a magnetic field is the presence of the zeroth Landau level at the zero energy. Nonetheless, it is challenging to probe the zeroth Landau level due to large electron-hole puddles smearing its energy landscape. Here, by developing ultra-low-carrier density topological insulator Sb2 Te3 films, an extreme quantum limit of the topological surface state is reached and a hidden phase at the zeroth Landau level is uncovered. First, an unexpected quantum-Hall-to-insulator-transition near the zeroth Landau level is discovered. Then, through a detailed scaling analysis, it is found that this quantum-Hall-to-insulator-transition belongs to a new universality class, implying that the insulating phase discovered here has a fundamentally different origin from those in nontopological systems.
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