Spin-orbit interaction effect in the electronic structure of Bi2Te3 observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

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Published 12 February 2008 Europhysics Letters Association
, , Citation H.-J. Noh et al 2008 EPL 81 57006 DOI 10.1209/0295-5075/81/57006

0295-5075/81/5/57006

Abstract

The electronic structure of p-type doped Bi2Te3 is studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to experimentally confirm the mechanism responsible for the high thermoelectric figure of merit. Our ARPES study shows that the band edges are located off the Γ-Z line in the Brillouin zone, which provides direct observation that the spin-orbit interaction is a key factor to understand the electronic structure and the corresponding thermoelectric properties of Bi2Te3. A successive time-dependent ARPES measurement also reveals that the electron-like bands crossing EF near the -point are formed in an hour after cleaving the crystals. We interpret these as surface states induced by surface band bending, possibly due to quintuple inter-layer distance change of Bi2Te3.

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