All (2002-Present)  SS21  WS21  SS22  WS22  SS23  WS23  SS24

 Karl Franzens University Graz

Graz University of Technology 

Surface Electronic Structure of SmB6 - The first topological Kondo insulator?
Dr. Emile Rienks
TU Dresden und IFW Dresden
17:00 - 18:00 Tuesday 12 December 2017 KFU HS 05.01

The prediction that Kondo insulators could be topologically non-trivial [1] renewed interest in SmB6, a material that already earned a reputation as the first mixed valence system and the first Kondo insulator. Dzero et al.’s proposal [1] connects two of the most topical fields in solid state research: Topological insulators and strongly correlated, heavy Fermion materials. In addition, robust surface conductivity —inherent to a topological insulator— would elegantly explain SmB6’s anomalous transport properties; an issue that has puzzled researchers for decades [2].
The notion that samarium hexaboride is a topological Kondo insulator is seemingly confirmed by recent experiments: The material is found to be a surface-only conductor at low temperature and surface states have been found at the expected locations. In this talk we will present crucial new insights from high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy [3] and discuss the implications.

[1] M. Dzero, et al., Physical Review Letters, 104 (2010) 106408.
[2] See P. S. Riseborough, Advances in Physics, 49 (2000) 257–320 and references therein.
[3] First results: P. Hlawenka et al., ArXiv: 1502.01542v1.