Synthesis of Narrow SnTe Nanowires Using Alloy Nanoparticles

Abstract

Topological crystalline insulator tin telluride (SnTe) provides a rich playground to examine interactions of correlated electronic states, such as ferroelectricity, topological surface states, and superconductivity. Making SnTe into nanowires further induces novel electronic states due to one-dimensional (1D) confinement effects. Thus, for transport measurements, SnTe nanowires must be made narrow in their diameters to ensure the 1D confinement and phase coherence of the topological surface electrons. This study reports a facile growth method to produce narrow SnTe nanowires with a high yield using alloy nanoparticles as growth catalysts. The average

Seeing Quantum Materials with Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy

“…Importantly, these topological magnetic textures and their dynamics can only be fully understood through direct imaging. In a separate example, we recently studied the ferroelectric domain structure in nanowires of the topological crystalline insulator SnTe at 25 K , (Figure ). Observation of the ferroelectric transition was essential in understanding the unconventional superconductivity measured in these nanowires .…”

“… In situ cryo-TEM experiments of crystalline topological insulator SnTe nanowires , revealed a transition from the cubic SnTe structure at room temperature (a) to the low-temperature ferroelectric structure at 25 K (d). Observation of the phase transition and intermediate structures (schematically shown in (b) and (c)) require an improved stage stability with cooling.…”

Corner states, hinge states, and Majorana modes in SnTe nanowires

“…So far the topological properties of SnTe nanowires have received little attention experimentally, but this may soon change due to the continuous progress in their fabrication [38,39]. In this paper, we systematically study the symmetries and topological invariants in SnTe nanowires and propose to utilize the tunable symmetry-breaking fields for realizing different types of topological states.…”

Corner states, hinge states and Majorana modes in SnTe nanowires

“…So far the topological properties of SnTe nanowires have received little attention experimentally, but this may soon change due to the continuous progress in their fabrication [37,38]. In this paper, we systematically study the symmetries and topological invariants in SnTe nanowires and propose to utilize the tunable symmetrybreaking fields for realizing different types of topological states.…”