Weak Antilocalization Effect of Topological Crystalline Insulator Pb1-xSnxTe Nanowires with Tunable Composition and Distinct {100} Facets

作者：Safdar, Muhammad; Wang, Qisheng; Wang, Zhenming; Zhan, Xueying; Xu, Kai; Wang, Fengmei; Mirza, Mi**ah; He, Jun^*

来源：Nano Letters, 2015, 15(4): 2485-2490.

DOI：10.1021/nl504976g

• topological crystalline insulator
• weak antilocalization effect
• PbxSn1-xTe nanowires
• magnetotransport

Pb1-xSnxTe is a unique topological crystalline insulator (TCI) that undergoes a topological phase transition from topological trivial insulator to TCI with the change of Sn content and temperature. Meanwhile, the surface states properties of Pb1-xSnxTe are strongly dependent on crystallographic plane orientation. In this work, we first reported controllable synthesis of rectangular prismatic PbxSn1-xTe nanowires by vapor deposition method. Rectangular prismatic PbxSn1-xTe nanowires exhibits distinct {100} surfaces. Furthermore, The Sn composition of Pb1-xSnxTe nanowires can be continuously controlled from 0 to 1. Low temperature magnetotransport shows that PbTe nanowire exhibits weak localization (WL) effect, whereas Pb0.5Sn0.5Te and Pb0.2Sn0.8Te nanowires display pronounced weak antilocalization (WAL) effect. This transition is explained by the topological phase transform of Pb1-xSnxTe from trivial to nontrivial insulator with Sn content (x) exceeding 0.38. PbxSn1-xTe nanowires synthesized in this work lay a foundation for probing spin-correlated electron transport and show great potentials for future applications of tunable spintronic devices.

• 出版日期2015-4
• 单位国家纳米科学中心