Topological surface states scattering in antimony

In this work we study the topologically protected states of the Sb(111) surface by using ab initio transport theory. In the presence of a strong surface perturbation we obtain standing-wave states resulting from the superposition of spin-polarized surface states. By Fourier analysis, we identify the underlying two dimensional scattering processes and the spin texture. We find evidence of resonant transmission across surface barriers at quantum well state energies and evaluate their lifetimes. Our results are in excellent agreement with experimental findings. We also show that despite the presence of a step edge along a different high-symmetry direction, the surface states exhibit unperturbed transmission around the Fermi energy for states with near to normal incidence. © 2012 American Physical Society.