Nanoscale Band Structure Imaging of Topological Materials: Sb and SmB6
Abstract
We use STM to study the topological semimetal Sb(111), and
report the first simultaneous observation and quantitative
reconciliation of Landau level spectroscopy and quasiparticle
interference imaging on any material. We thus establish the technique
of band structure tunneling microscopy (BSTM), and use it to
reconstruct the multi-component surface states band structure of Sb
with nanoscale spatial resolution, and to quantify essential metrics
for spintronics applications. We also conduct the first atomic
resolution spectroscopic study of the proposed topological Kondo
insulator SmB6. We disentangle the tunneling interference between two
distinct bands, to reveal a robust hybridization gap which universally
spans the Fermi level on four distinct surface morphologies, paving the
way for more detailed understanding of the purported topological
surface states.