Providing the strong spin-orbital interaction, Bismuth is the key element in the family of three-dimensional topological insulators. At the same time, Bismuth itself also has very unusual behavior, existing from the thinnest unit to bulk crystals. Ultrathin Bi （111） bilayers have been theoretically proposed as a two-dimensional topological insulator. The related experimental realization achieved only recently, by growing Bi （111） ultrathin bilayers on topological insulator Bi2Te3 or Bi2Se3 substrates. In this review, we started from the growth mode of Bi （111） bilayers and reviewed our recent progress in the studies of the electronic structures and the one-dimensional topological edge states using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy （STM/STS）, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy （ARPES）, and first principles calculations.
We study the effect of structure asymmetry on the energy spectrum and the far-infrared spectrum （FIR） of a lateral coupled quantum dot. The calculated spectrum shows that the parity break of coupled quantum dot results in more coherent superpositions in the low-lying states and exhibits unique anti-crossing in the two-electron FIR spectrum modulated by a magnetic field. We also find that the Coulomb correlation effect can make the FIR spectrum of coupled quantum dot without strict parity deviate greatly from Kohn theorem, which is just contrary to the symmetric case. Our results therefore suggest that FIR spectrum may be used to determine the symmetry of coupled quantum dot and to evaluate the degree of Coulomb interaction.
We investigated the effect of low temperature annealing on magnetic anisotropy in 7-nm ultrathin Ga0.94Mn0.06As devices by measuring the angle-dependent planar Hall resistance（PHR）.Obvious hysteresis loops were observed during the magnetization reversal through the clockwise and counterclockwise rotations under low magnetic fields（below 1000 Gs,1 Gs = 10-4 T）,which can be explained by competition between Zeeman energy and magnetic anisotropic energy.It is found that the uniaxial anisotropy is dominant in the whole measured ferromagnetic range for both the as-grown ultrathin Ga0.94Mn0.06As and the annealed one.The cubic anisotropy changes more than the uniaxial anisotropy in the measured temperature ranges after annealing.This gives a useful way to tune the magnetic anisotropy of ultrathin（Ga,Mn）As devices.
An improved plan-wave expansion method is adopted to theoretically study the photonic band diagrams of twodimensional（2D） metal/dielectric photonic crystals.Based on the photonic band structures,the dependence of flat bands and photonic bandgaps on two parameters（dielectric constant and filling factor） are investigated for two types of 2D metal/dielectric（M/D） photonic crystals,hole and cylinder photonic crystals.The simulation results show that band structures are affected greatly by these two parameters.Flat bands and bandgaps can be easily obtained by tuning these parameters and the bandgap width may reach to the maximum at certain parameters.It is worth noting that the hole-type photonic crystals show more bandgaps than the corresponding cylinder ones,and the frequency ranges of bandgaps also depend strongly on these parameters.Besides,the photonic crystals containing metallic medium can obtain more modulation of photonic bands,band gaps,and large effective refractive index,etc.than the dielectric/dielectric ones.According to the numerical results,the needs of optical devices for flat bands and bandgaps can be met by selecting the suitable geometry and material parameters.
The discovery of an extraordinarily superconductive large energy gap in SrTiO3 supported single-layer FeSe films has recently initiated a great deal of research interests in surface-enhanced superconductivity and superconductive ultrathin films fabricated on crystal surfaces. On account of the instability of ultra-thin films in air, it is desirable to perform elec- trical transport measurement in ultra-high vaccum （UHV）. Here we review the experimental techniques of in situ electrical transport measurement and their applications on superconductive ultrathin films.
