A new tunable topological platform with terahertz band gap: Pb1-xSnxSe

In topological insulator thin films, new states of matter can be generated by hybridizing the massless Dirac states that occur at the topological insulator surface. In this work, we experimentally introduce a platform where this hybridization can be continuously tuned: the PbSnSe topological superlattice. Using magnetooptical transmission spectroscopy on high quality molecular beam epitaxy grown PbSnSe/ PbEuSe superlattices, we demonstrate that the energy gap emerging from this hybridization can be tuned with temperature from 1 to 10 THz. The engineering of topological states is a promising road to achieve photo detection and/or photoemission in the terahertz range.