Manipulation of Topological States and the Bulk Band Gap Using Natural Heterostructures of a Topological Insulator

We have performed angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on (PbSe)(5)(Bi2Se3)(3m), which forms a natural multilayer heterostructure consisting of a topological insulator and an ordinary insulator. For m = 2, we observed a gapped Dirac-cone state within the bulk band gap, suggesting that the topological interface states are effectively encapsulated by block layers; furthermore, it was found that the quantum confinement effect of the band dispersions of Bi2Se3 layers enhances the effective bulk band gap to 0.5 eV, the largest ever observed in topological insulators. For m = 1, the Dirac-like state is completely gone, suggesting the disappearance of the band inversion in the Bi2Se3 unit. These results demonstrate that utilization of naturally occurring heterostructures is a new promising strategy for manipulating the topological states and realizing exotic quantum phenomena. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.236804