Quasiballistic transport of Dirac fermions in a Bi2Se3 nanowire

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 May 3;110(18):186806. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.186806. Epub 2013 Apr 30.

Abstract

Quantum coherent transport of surface states in a mesoscopic nanowire of the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi(2}Se(3) is studied in the weak-disorder limit. At very low temperatures, many harmonics are evidenced in the Fourier transform of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, revealing the long phase coherence length of spin-chiral Dirac fermions. Remarkably, from their exponential temperature dependence, we infer an unusual 1/T power law for the phase coherence length L(φ)(T). This decoherence is typical for quasiballistic fermions weakly coupled to their environment.