Abstract
The motion of electrons in a solid has a profound effect on its topological properties and may result in a nonzero Berry's phase, a geometric quantum phase encoded in the system's electronic wave function. Despite its ubiquity, there are few experimental observations of Berry's phase of bulk states. Here, we report detection of a nontrivial pi Berry's phase in the bulk Rashba semiconductor BiTeI via analysis of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) effect. The extremely large Rashba splitting in this material enables the separation of SdH oscillations, stemming from the spin-split inner and outer Fermi surfaces. For both Fermi surfaces, we observe a systematic pi-phase shift in SdH oscillations, consistent with the theoretically predicted nontrivial pi Berry's phase in Rashba systems.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1490-1493 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Science |
Volume | 342 |
Issue number | 6165 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 Dec 2013 |
Keywords
- TOPOLOGICAL INSULATOR
- CONDUCTANCE
- TRANSPORT
- GRAPHENE
- SURFACE
- BITEI