Quantum Hall effect from the topological surface states of strained bulk HgTe

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Mar 25;106(12):126803. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.126803. Epub 2011 Mar 22.

Abstract

We report transport studies on a three-dimensional, 70-nm-thick HgTe layer, which is strained by epitaxial growth on a CdTe substrate. The strain induces a band gap in the otherwise semimetallic HgTe, which thus becomes a three-dimensional topological insulator. Contributions from residual bulk carriers to the transport properties of the gapped HgTe layer are negligible at mK temperatures. As a result, the sample exhibits a quantized Hall effect that results from the 2D single cone Dirac-like topological surface states.