Aging of the surface of Bi(2)Se(3)

TL;DR

This study investigates how the surface termination of Bi(2)Se(3) affects its electronic structure, revealing complex time-dependent shifts in Dirac cone energies due to oxygen interactions, crucial for understanding topological surface states.

Contribution

It demonstrates the dependence of Dirac surface states on surface termination and environmental interactions in Bi(2)Se(3), a topological insulator.

Findings

Dirac cone apex energy varies with surface termination

Surface interactions cause complex time-dependent shifts

Different behaviors observed on Bi and Se terminated surfaces

Abstract

We study the electronic structure of Bi(2)Se(3) employing high resolution photoemission spectroscopy and discover the dependence of the behavior of Dirac particles on surface terminations. The Dirac cone apex appears at different energies and exhibits contrasting shift on Bi and Se terminated surface with complex time dependence emerging from subtle adsorbed oxygen-surface atom interactions. These results uncover the surface states behavior of real systems possessing topologically ordered surface.