title: Atomic structure, energetics, and dynamics of topological solitons in indium chains on Si(111) surfaces.
abstract: Based on scanning tunneling microscopy and first-principles theoretical studies, we characterize the precise atomic structure of a topological soliton in In chains grown on Si(111) surfaces. Variable-temperature measurements of the soliton population allow us to determine the soliton formation energy to be ∼60  meV, smaller than one-half of the band gap of ∼200  meV. Once created, these solitons have very low mobility, even though the activation energy is only about 20 meV; the sluggish nature is attributed to the exceptionally low attempt frequency for soliton migration. We further demonstrate local electric field-enhanced soliton dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 JinZhai Road, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jin-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiuxia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Changgan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Jun-Hyung
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Zhenyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Hou