Topological surface states scattering in Antimony

TL;DR

This paper investigates the scattering and transmission properties of topologically protected surface states on Sb(111) using ab-initio transport theory, revealing resonant transmission and spin texture details.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the scattering processes, spin textures, and transmission characteristics of Sb(111) surface states under strong perturbations.

Findings

Resonant transmission occurs at quantum well state energies.

Surface states show unperturbed transmission near the Fermi energy for near-normal incidence.

Fourier analysis reveals the underlying scattering processes and spin textures.

Abstract

In this work we study the topologically protected states of the Sb(111) surface by using ab-initio transport theory. In the presence of a strong surface perturbation we obtain standing-wave states resulting from the superposition of spin-polarized surface states. By Fourier analysis, we identify the underlying two dimensional scattering processes and the spin texture. We find evidence of resonant transmission across surface barriers at quantum well states energies and evaluate their lifetimes. Our results are in excellent agreement with experimental findings. We also show that despite the presence of a step edge along a different high symmetry direction, not yet probed experimentally, the surface states exhibit unperturbed transmission around the Fermi energy for states with near to normal incidence.