Transport signatures of surface potentials on three-dimensional topological insulators

The spin-momentum-locked nature of the robust surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators (3D TIs) makes them promising candidates for spintronics applications. Surface potentials which respect time-reversal symmetry can exist at the surface between a 3D TI and the trivial vacuum. These potentials can distort the spin texture of the surface states while retaining their gapless nature. In this work, the effect of all such surface potentials on the spin textures is studied. Since a tunnel magnetoresistance signal carries the information of the spin texture, it is proposed that spin-polarized tunneling of electrons to a 3D TI surface can be used to uniquely identify the surface potentials and quantitatively characterize them.