Electronic standing waves on the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Te3

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates the local density of states oscillations near a line defect on the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Te3, revealing pre-asymptotic effects that differ from traditional asymptotic behavior and match experimental observations.

Contribution

It identifies and characterizes pre-asymptotic LDOS oscillations on Bi2Te3's surface, providing insights into their wave number and decay properties distinct from asymptotic predictions.

Findings

Pre-asymptotic LDOS oscillations have distinct wave numbers.

The wave numbers match recent STM experimental data.

Pre-asymptotic effects are significant near the defect.

Abstract

A line defect on a metallic surface induces standing waves in the electronic local density of states (LDOS). Asymptotically far from the defect, the wave number of the LDOS oscillations at the Fermi energy is usually equal to the distance between nesting segments of the Fermi contour, and the envelope of the LDOS oscillations shows a power-law decay as moving away from the line defect. Here, we theoretically analyze the LDOS oscillations close to a line defect on the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Te3, and identify an important pre-asymptotic contribution with wave number and decay characteristics markedly different from the asymptotic contributions. Wave numbers characterizing the pre-asymptotic LDOS oscillations are in good agreement with recent data from scanning tunneling microscopy experiments [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 016401 (2010)].