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Revealing Dispersive Amorphous Electronic States on the Surface of a Glassy Topological Insulator

ORAL

Abstract

The typical description of amorphous electronic structure assumes that a lack of translational symmetry ensures that momentum is ill-defined. This description is so pervasive in the amorphous field of study that the density of states is assumed to be momentum-independent, serving as the full characterization of an amorphous system's electronic structure. In this work, we uncover a highly dispersive, spin-momentum locked topological surface state in amorphous Bi2Se3 using Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy. We observe a Fermi surface with repeated annuli suggesting Bloch-like repetition and analogous Brillouin-like zones. We argue that amorphous structures conserve real-space length-scales, allowing for the existence of well-defined momentum-space length-scales, warranting a re-evaluation of amorphous band structure on the most fundamental level.

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Presenters

  • Samuel Ciocys

    University of California, Berkeley, Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley

Authors

  • Samuel Ciocys

    University of California, Berkeley, Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley

  • Paul Corbae

    Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

  • Quentin Marsal

    Institut Néel, Institut Neel

  • Daniel Varjas

    QuTech and Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Delft University of Technology

  • Steven Eric Zeltmann

    Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

  • Adolfo G Grushin

    Institut Néel, CNRS and Université Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, Institut Néel, Institut Neel, CNRS Institut Néel, Institut Neel, CNRS and Universite Grenoble Alpes

  • Frances Hellman

    Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California Berkeley

  • Alessandra Lanzara

    University of California, Berkeley, Department of Physics, University of California, Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Physics, University of California Berkeley, Physics, UC Berkeley