Non-trivial surface states of samarium hexaboride at the (111) surface

The peculiar metallic electronic states observed in the Kondo insulator, samarium hexaboride (SmB 6 ), has stimulated considerable attention among those studying non-trivial electronic phenomena. However, experimental studies of these states have led to controversial conclusions mainly due to the difficulty and inhomogeneity of the SmB 6 crystal surface. Here, we show the detailed electronic structure of SmB 6 with angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy measurements of the three-fold (111) surface where only two inequivalent time-reversal-invariant momenta (TRIM) exist. We observe the metallic two-dimensional state was dispersed across the bulk Kondo gap. Its helical in-plane spin polarisation around the surface TRIM indicates that SmB 6 is topologically non-trivial, according to the topological classification theory for weakly correlated systems. Based on these results, we propose a simple picture of the controversial topological classification of SmB 6 . Samarium hexaboride has unusual electronic properties that have been suggested to arise from topological effects. Here the authors present spin-resolved ARPES measurements of the (111) surface and observe surface states that may give insight into the bulk topological properties.