Topological insulators are a promising class of materials for applications in the field of spintronics. New perspectives in this field can arise from interfacing metal−organic molecules with the topological insulator spin-momentum locked surface states, which can be perturbed enhancing or suppressing spintronics-relevant properties such as spin coherence. Here we show results from an angle-resolved photemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) study of the prototypical cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc)/Bi2Se3 interface. We demonstrate that that the hybrid interface can act on the topological protection of the surface and bury the Dirac cone below the first quintuple layer.

“Manipulating the Topological Interface by Molecular Adsorbates: Adsorption of Co-Phthalocyanine on Bi2Se3”

Marco Caputo,  Mirko Panighel, Simone Lisi, Lama Khalil, Giovanni Di Santo, Evangelos Papalazarou,  Andrzej Hruban,  Marcin Konczykowski, Lia Krusin-Elbaum, Ziya S. Aliev, Mahammad B. Babanly, Mikhail M. Otrokov,  Antonio Politano,  Evgueni V. Chulkov, Andrés Arnau, Vera Marinova,  Pranab K. Das, Jun Fujii,  Ivana Vobornik, Luca Perfetti, Aitor Mugarza, Andrea Goldoni,  and Marino Marsi. Nano Letters. 2016, 16, 3409−3414