Sourabh Singh

Weak-antilocalization and surface dominated transport in topological insulator Bi2Se2Te

We explore the phase coherence of thin films of the topological insulator material Bi2Se2Te grown through pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The films were characterised using various techniques for phase and composition. The films were found to be of good quality. We carried out extensive magneto-transport studies of these films and found that they exhibit two dimensional weak antilocalization behaviour. A careful analysis revealed a relatively high phase coherence length (58nm at 1.78K) for a PLD grown film. Since PLD is an inexpensive technique, with the possibility to integrate with other materials, one can make devices which can be extremely useful for low power spintronics and topological quantum computation.

Probing quantum discord in a Heisenberg dimer compound.

A quantitative estimation of quantum discord is performed for a Heisenberg spin 1/2 dimer compound (NH4CuPO4, H2O) by means of experimental magnetic and thermal measurements. Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat data were collected for NH4CuPO4, H2O and analyzed within the framework of the Heisenberg isolated dimer model. Internal energy as a function of temperature is obtained by integrating the specific heat versus temperature data. Subsequently, quantum discord, total correlations and spin-spin correlation function are quantified from susceptibility and internal energy and plotted as a function of temperature. Violation of Bells inequality is also tested for NH4CuPO4, H2O via both experimental susceptibility and specific heat data signifying the presence of entanglement.

Linear magnetoresistance and surface to bulk coupling in topological insulator thin films

We explore the temperature dependent magnetoresistance of bulk insulating topological insulator thin films. Thin films of Bi2Se2Te and BiSbTeSe1.6 were grown using the pulsed laser deposition technique and subjected to transport measurements. Magnetotransport measurements indicate a non-saturating linear magnetoresistance (LMR) behavior at high magnetic field values. We present a careful analysis to explain the origin of LMR taking into consideration all the existing models of LMR. Here we consider that the bulk insulating states and the metallic surface states constitute two parallel conduction channels. Invoking this, we were able to explain linear magnetoresistance behavior as a competition between these parallel channels. We observe that the cross-over field, where LMR sets in, decreases with increasing temperature. We propose that this cross-over field can be used phenomenologically to estimate the strength of surface to bulk coupling.

Quantum and classical contributions to linear magnetoresistance in topological insulator thin films

Three dimensional topological insulators possess backscattering immune relativistic Dirac fermions on their surface due to nontrivial topology of the bulk band structure. Both metallic and bulk insulating topological insulators exhibit weak-antilocalization in the low magnetic field and linear like magnetoresistance in higher fields. We explore the linear magnetoresistance in bulk insulating topological insulator Bi2-xSbxTe3-ySey thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition technique. Thin films of Bi2-xSbxTe3-ySey were found to be insulating in nature, which conclusively establishes the origin of linear magnetoresistance from surface Dirac states. The films were thoroughly characterized for their crystallinity and composition and then subjected to transport measurements. We present a careful analysis taking into considerations all the existing models of linear magnetoresistance. We comprehend that the competition between classical and quantum contributions to magnetoresistance results in linear magnetores...

Surface optical and bulk acoustic phonons in the topological insulator, Bi2Se2Te

We explore the phonon dynamics of thin films of the topological insulator material Bi2Se2Te using ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy. The time resolved differential reflectivity of the films exhibit fast and slow oscillations. We have given a careful analysis of variation of phonon frequency as a function of film thickness attributing this to existence of standing acoustic modes. However, no variation in the frequency of the optical phonon modes was found with film thickness. This indicates that the optical phonons intrinsically belong to the surface of the topological insulators. The fact that the acoustic phonons can be tuned by changing the film thickness has tremendous potential for room temperature low power spintronic devices and in topological quantum computation.

Evidence of charged puddles and induced dephasing in topological insulator thin films

We investigate the dephasing mechanism in bulk insulating topological insulator thin films. The phase coherence length is extracted from magnetoresistance measurements at different temperatures. There is a crossover of the phase coherence length as a function of temperature signifying the role of more than one dephasing mechanism in the system. The dephasing rates have been studied systematically and explained.We investigate the dephasing mechanism in bulk insulating topological insulator thin films. The phase coherence length is extracted from magnetoresistance measurements at different temperatures. There is a crossover of the phase coherence length as a function of temperature signifying the role of more than one dephasing mechanism in the system. The dephasing rates have been studied systematically and explained.

Bulk saturable absorption in topological insulator thin films

We present nonlinear optical absorption properties of pulsed laser deposited thin films of topological insulator (TI), Bi2Se3 on a quartz substrate, using an open aperture z-scan technique. We observed saturable absorption with a low saturation intensity in as deposited thin films. Past results from the literature are inconclusive in establishing whether the saturable absorption in TI is coming from surface states or the bulk. Specifically designed experiments with magnetically doped TI samples allow us to attribute the saturable absorption characteristic of TI to the bulk states. Detailed experimental procedures and possible explanation of observed results have been discussed.

Tuning chemical potential in the dirac cone by compositional engineering

We report the successful formation of bulk insulating ternary topological insulators candidate Bi2Se2Te (BST) by pulsed laser deposition technique. The films were deposited with sequential ablation of separate Bi2Se3 (BS) and Bi2Te3 (BT) targets. From the X-ray diffraction analysis and temperature dependent resistivity we were able to conclude that the as grown thin films have ordered chalcogen layers and the chemical potential in these thin films lie in the bulk gap. To realize entirely topological transport for any device applications it is essential to tune the chemical potential in the bulk gap of the Dirac cone. Magnetotransport data exhibits pronounced two dimensional weak-antilocalization behavior (WAL) at low temperatures. BS and BT thin films do not exhibit topological transport as the chemical potential does not lie entirely in the bulk gap. It was found that BST thin films grown with this cost effective and simple yet elegant technique using double target can be used to deposit quaternary TI thin films, thereby tuning the chemical potential at will in the gap.