Indications of the topological transport by the universal conductance fluctuations in the Bi2Te2Se microflakes

Abstract

Universal conductance fluctuations (UCFs) are extracted in the magnetoresistance responses in the bulk-insulating Bi2Te2Se microflakes. Its two-dimensional character is demonstrated by the field-tilting magnetoresistance measurements. Its origin from the surface electrons is determined by the fact that the UCF amplitudes keep unchanged while applying an in-plane field to suppress the coherence of bulk electrons. After considering the ensemble average in a batch of micrometer-sized samples, the intrinsic UCF magnitudes of over 0.37 e2/h is obtained. This agrees with the theoretical prediction on topological surface states. All the evidence point to the successful observation of the UCF of topological surface states.