Observation of Dirac Node Formation and Mass Acquisition in a Topological Crystalline Insulator

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1239451
• Publication Date: 2013-08-30T02:18:00Z
• Authors: Yoshinori Okada; Maksym Serbyn; Hsin Lin; Daniel Walkup; Wenwen Zhou; Chetan Dhital; Madhab Neupane; Suyang Xu; Yung Jui Wang; R. Sankar; Fangcheng Chou; Arun Bansil; M. Zahid Hasan; Stephen D. Wilson; Liang Fu; Vidya Madhavan
• Keywords: Massless particle; Topological insulator

Half-Massless Certain materials, such as topological crystalline insulators (TCIs), host robust surface states that have a Dirac (graphene-like) dispersion associated with massless carriers; the breaking of protective symmetry within materials should cause carriers to acquire mass. Okada et al. (p. 1496 , published online 29 August) used scanning tunneling microscopy map out energies electronic levels TCI Pb 1- x Sn Se function strength an external magnetic field. The fermions coexisted massive ones, presumably consequence distortion structure affecting only one two mirror symmetries.