Probing the interplay between surface and bulk states in the topological Kondo insulator SmB6 through conductance fluctuation spectroscopy

Biswas, Sangram and Hatnean, M Ciomaga and Balakrishnan, G and Bid, Aveek (2017) Probing the interplay between surface and bulk states in the topological Kondo insulator SmB6 through conductance fluctuation spectroscopy. In: PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 95 (20).

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Abstract

We present results of resistance fluctuation spectroscopy on single crystals of the predicted Kondo topological insulator material SmB6. Our measurements show that at low temperatures, transport in this system takes place only through surface states. The measured noise in this temperature range arises due to universal conductance fluctuations whose statistics was found to be consistent with theoretical predictions for that of two-dimensional systems in the symplectic symmetry class. At higher temperatures, we find signatures of glassy dynamics and establish that the measured noise is caused by mobility fluctuations in the bulk. We find that, unlike the topological insulators of the dichalcogenide family, the noises in surface and bulk conduction channels in SmB6 are completely uncorrelated. Our measurements establish that at sufficiently low temperatures, the bulk has no discernible contribution to electrical transport in SmB6, making it an ideal platform for probing the physics of topological surface states.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	PHYSICAL REVIEW B
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the AMER PHYSICAL SOC, ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, MD 20740-3844 USA
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	03 Jun 2017 09:34
Last Modified:	03 Jun 2017 09:34
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/57090

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