Interaction between interface and massive states in multivalley topological heterostructures

Abstract

Topological interface states (TISs) in multivalley systems are studied to unravel their valley sensitivity. For this purpose, multivalley IV–VI topological crystalline insulator (TCI) heterostructures are explored using magnetooptical Landau level spectroscopy up to 34 teslas. We characterize the TISs emerging from the distinct L valleys in Pb_{1−x}Sn_{x}Se multiquantum wells grown along the [111] direction. It is shown that the shape of the two-dimensional (2D) Fermi surfaces of TISs residing at the TCI-trivial insulator interfaces are strongly affected by the valley anisotropy of topologically trivial Pb_{1−y}Eu_{y}Se barriers. This phenomenon is shown to be due to the deep penetration of the TISs into the barriers. For the valleys tilted with respect to the confinement direction, a significant interaction between topological states and the conventional massive quantum well states is observed, evidenced by the resulting large anticrossings between Landau levels. These are theoretically well described by a k·p model that considers tilt and anisotropy of the valleys in 2D. Therefore, in this paper, we provide a precise characterization of the TIS valley splitting as well as an accurate determination of the anisotropy of their Dirac cone dispersion.