Quasiparticle interference on the surface of the topological crystalline insulator Pb1-xSnxSe

Abstract

Topological crystalline insulators represent a novel topological phase of matter in which the surface states are protected by discrete point group symmetries of the underlying lattice. Rock-salt lead-tin-selenide alloy is one possible realization of this phase, which undergoes a topological phase transition upon changing the lead content. We used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to probe the surface states on (001) Pb1-xSnxSe in the topologically nontrivial (x = 0.23) and topologically trivial (x = 0) phases. We observed quasiparticle interference with STM on the surface of the topological crystalline insulator and demonstrated that the measured interference can be understood from ARPES studies and a simple band structure model. Furthermore, our findings support the fact that Pb0.77Sn0.23Se and PbSe have different topological nature.