Anomalous behavior of the electronic structure of (Bi$_{1-x}$In$_x$)$_2$Se$_3$ across the quantum-phase transition from topological to trivial insulator

TL;DR

This study investigates how the electronic structure of (Bi$_{1-x}$In$_x$)$_2$Se$_3$ evolves across the topological to trivial insulator transition, revealing a persistent surface gap and non-zero spin polarization that challenge existing theories.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the surface state behavior and spin properties during the quantum-phase transition, highlighting a non-TRS breaking mechanism affecting the surface states.

Findings

Surface gap opens at the Dirac point with increasing In content.

Surface state persists through the topological-trivial transition.

Non-zero in-plane spin polarization remains across phases.

Abstract

Using spin- and angle-resolved spectroscopy and relativistic many-body calculations, we investigate the evolution of the electronic structure of (Bi$_{1-x}$In$_x$)$_2$Se$_3$ bulk single crystals around the critical point of the trivial to topological insulator quantum-phase transition. By increasing $x$, we observe how a surface gap opens at the Dirac point of the initially gapless topological surface state of Bi$_2$Se$_3$, leading to the existence of massive fermions. The surface gap monotonically increases for a wide range of $x$ values across the topological and trivial sides of the quantum-phase transition. By means of photon-energy dependent measurements, we demonstrate that the gapped surface state survives the inversion of the bulk bands which occurs at a critical point near $x=0.055$. The surface state exhibits a non-zero in-plane spin polarization which decays exponentially with increasing $x$, and that persists on both the topological and trivial insulator phases. Its out-of-plane spin polarization remains zero demonstrating the absence of a hedgehog spin texture expected from broken time-reversal symmetry. Our calculations reveal qualitative agreement with the experimental results all across the quantum-phase transition upon the systematic variation of the spin-orbit coupling strength. A non-time reversal symmetry breaking mechanism of bulk-mediated scattering processes that increase with decreasing spin-orbit coupling strength is proposed as explanation.