Experimental Observation of Dirac-like Surface States and Topological Phase Transition in Pb1-xSnxTe(111) Films

The surface of a topological crystalline insulator (TCI) carries an even number of Dirac cones protected by crystalline symmetry. We epitaxially grew high-quality Pb1-xSnxTe(111) films and investigated the TCI phase by in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Pb1-xSnxTe(111) films undergo a topological phase transition from a trivial insulator to TCI via increasing the Sn/Pb ratio, accompanied by a crossover from n-type to p-type doping. In addition, a hybridization gap is opened in the surface states when the thickness of the film is reduced to the two-dimensional limit. The work demonstrates an approach to manipulating the topological properties of TCI, which is of importance for future fundamental research and applications based on TCI.