Modeling of magneto-conductivity of bismuth selenide: a topological insulator

Abstract

AbstractWe report the magneto-conductivity analysis of Bi2Se3 single crystal at different temperatures in a magnetic field range of ± 14 T. The single crystals are grown by the self-flux method and characterized through X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Raman Spectroscopy. The single crystals show magnetoresistance (MR%) of around 380% at a magnetic field of 14 T and a temperature of 5 K. The Hikami–Larkin–Nagaoka (HLN) equation has been used to fit the magneto-conductivity (MC) data. However, the HLN fitted curve deviates at higher magnetic fields above 1 T, suggesting that the role of surface-driven conductivity suppresses with an increasing magnetic field. This article proposes a speculative model comprising of surface-driven HLN and added quantum diffusive and bulk carriers-driven classical terms. The model successfully explains the MC of the Bi2Se3 single crystal at various temperatures (5–200 K) and applied magnetic fields (up to 14 T).