In intrinsic magnetic topological insulators, Dirac surface-state gaps are prerequisites for quantum anomalous Hall and axion insulating states. Unambiguous experimental identification of these gaps has proved to be a challenge, however. Here, we use molecular beam epitaxy to grow intrinsic MnBi
2
Te
4
thin films. Using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we directly visualize the Dirac mass gap and its disappearance below and above the magnetic order temperature. We further reveal the interplay of Dirac mass gaps and local magnetic defects. We find that, in high defect regions, the Dirac mass gap collapses.
Ab initio
and coupled Dirac cone model calculations provide insight into the microscopic origin of the correlation between defect density and spatial gap variations. This work provides unambiguous identification of the Dirac mass gap in MnBi
2
Te
4
and, by revealing the microscopic origin of its gap variation, establishes a material design principle for realizing exotic states in intrinsic magnetic topological insulators.
2D materials have intriguing quantum phenomena that are distinctively different from their bulk counterparts. Recently, epitaxially synthesized wafer-scale 2D metals, composed of elemental atoms, are attracting attention not only for their potential applications but also for exotic quantum effects such as superconductivity. By mapping momentum-resolved electronic states using time-resolved and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we reveal that monolayer Ag confined between bilayer graphene and SiC is a large gap (>1 eV) 2D semiconductor, consistent with ab initio GW calculations. The measured valence band dispersion matches the GW quasiparticle band structure. However, the conduction band dispersion shows an anomalously large effective mass of 2.4 m 0 . Possible mechanisms for this large enhancement in the "apparent mass" are discussed.
The
ability to engineer atomically thin nanoscale lateral junctions
is critical to lay the foundation for future two-dimensional (2D)
device technology. However, the traditional approach to creating a
heterojunction by direct growth of a heterostructure of two different
materials constrains the available band offsets, and it is still unclear
if large built-in potentials are attainable for 2D materials. The
electronic properties of atomically thin semiconducting transition
metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are not static, and their exciton binding
energy and quasiparticle band gap depend strongly on the proximal
environment. Recent studies have shown that this effect can be harnessed
to engineer the lateral band profile of a monolayer TMD to create
a lateral electronic junction. Here we demonstrate the synthesis of
a nanoscale lateral junction in monolayer MoSe2 by intercalating
Se at the interface of an hBN/Ru(0001) substrate. The Se intercalation
creates a spatially abrupt modulation of the local hBN/Ru work function,
which is imprinted directly onto an overlying MoSe2 monolayer
to create a lateral junction with a large built-in potential of 0.83
± 0.06 eV. We spatially resolve the MoSe2 band profile
and work function using scanning tunneling spectroscopy to map out
the nanoscale depletion region. The Se intercalation also modifies
the dielectric environment, influencing the local band gap renormalization
and increasing the MoSe2 band gap by ∼0.26 ±
0.1 eV. This work illustrates that environmental proximity engineering
provides a robust method to indirectly manipulate the band profile
of 2D materials outside the limits of their intrinsic properties.
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