# Electron-Phonon Coupling and Surface Debye Temperature of Bi$_2$Te$_3$(111) from Helium Atom Scattering

## TL;DR

This study measures the electron-phonon coupling and surface Debye temperature of Bi$_2$Te$_3$(111) using helium atom scattering, providing new insights into surface interactions and resolving previous discrepancies.

## Contribution

It introduces a quantum-theoretical method to accurately determine electron-phonon coupling from helium scattering data on topological insulator surfaces.

## Key findings

- Electron-phonon coupling $ extstyle\lambda$ is between 0.04 and 0.11.
- Surface Debye temperature is measured as 81±6 K.
- Surface corrugation is estimated at 9% of the lattice constant.

## Abstract

We have studied the topological insulator Bi$_2$Te$_3$(111) by means of helium atom scattering. The average electron-phonon coupling $\lambda$ of Bi$_2$Te$_3$(111) is determined by adapting a recently developed quantum-theoretical derivation of the helium scattering probabilities to the case of degenerate semiconductors. Based on the Debye-Waller attenuation of the elastic diffraction peaks of Bi$_2$Te$_3$(111), measured at surface temperatures between $110~\mbox{K}$ and $355~\mbox{K}$, we find $\lambda$ to be in the range of $0.04-0.11$. This method allows to extract a correctly averaged $\lambda$ and to address the discrepancy between previous studies. The relatively modest value of $\lambda$ is not surprising even though some individual phonons may provide a larger electron-phonon interaction. Furthermore, the surface Debye temperature of Bi$_2$Te$_3$(111) is determined as ${\rm \Theta}_D = (81\pm6)~\mbox{K}$. The electronic surface corrugation was analysed based on close-coupling calculations. By using a corrugated Morse potential a peak-to-peak corrugation of 9% of the lattice constant is obtained.