title: Electron-hole asymmetry of the topological surface states in strained HgTe.
abstract: Topological insulators are a new class of materials with an insulating bulk and topologically protected metallic surface states. Although it is widely assumed that these surface states display a Dirac-type dispersion that is symmetric above and below the Dirac point, this exact equivalence across the Fermi level has yet to be established experimentally. Here, we present a detailed transport study of the 3D topological insulator-strained HgTe that strongly challenges this prevailing viewpoint. First, we establish the existence of exclusively surface-dominated transport via the observation of an ambipolar surface quantum Hall effect and quantum oscillations in the Seebeck and Nernst effect. Second, we show that, whereas the thermopower is diffusion driven for surface electrons, both diffusion and phonon drag contributions are essential for the hole surface carriers. This distinct behavior in the thermoelectric response is explained by a strong deviation from the linear dispersion relation for the surface states, with a much flatter dispersion for holes compared with electrons. These findings show that the metallic surface states in topological insulators can exhibit both strong electron-hole asymmetry and a strong deviation from a linear dispersion but remain topologically protected.
authors.affiliation: High Field Magnet Laboratory-European Magnetic Field Laboratory, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.|Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jost
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bendias
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Böttcher
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ewelina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hankiewicz
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brüne
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Buhmann
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg, 97074 Wuerzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Laurens W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Molenkamp
authors.affiliation: High Field Magnet Laboratory-European Magnetic Field Laboratory, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.|Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Maan
authors.affiliation: High Field Magnet Laboratory-European Magnetic Field Laboratory, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.|Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Uli
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Zeitler
authors.affiliation: High Field Magnet Laboratory-European Magnetic Field Laboratory, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.|Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Nigel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hussey
authors.affiliation: High Field Magnet Laboratory-European Magnetic Field Laboratory, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands; s.wiedmann@science.ru.nl.|Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wiedmann
keywords: quantum Hall effect; surface states; thermopower; topological insulators