Ballistic geometric resistance resonances in a single surface of a topological insulator.

Abstract

Transport in topological matter has shown a variety of novel phenomena over the past decade. Although numerous transport studies have been conducted on three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs), study of ballistic motion and thus exploration of potential landscapes on a hundred nanometer scale is for the prevalent TI materials almost impossible due to their low carrier mobility. Therefore, it is unknown whether helical Dirac electrons in TIs, bound to interfaces between topologically distinct materials, can be manipulated on the nanometer scale by local gates or locally etched regions. Here we impose a submicron periodic potential onto a single surface of Dirac electrons in high-mobility strained mercury telluride (HgTe), which is a strong TI. Pronounced geometric resistance resonances constitute the clear-cut observation of a ballistic effect in three-dimensional TIs.