Quantum electrical transport properties of topological insulator Bi0.83Sb0.17 nanowires

Abstract

Recently a new class of insulator, namely, topological insulator (TI) [1], was proposed. A TI is a material with a bulk electronic excitation gap generated by the spin-orbit interaction, which is topologically distinct from an ordinary insulator. The strong topological insulator is predicted to have surface states whose Fermi surface encloses an odd number of Dirac points. This defines a topological metal surface phase, which is predicted to have novel electronic properties. The semiconducting alloy Bi1−xSbx is a strong topological insulator due to the inversion symmetry of bulk crystalline Bi and Sb . The transport properties of TI Bi0.83Sb0.17 nanowires were investigated earlier.