Development of topological insulator and topological crystalline insulator nanostructures

Topological insulators (TIs), a class of quantum materials with time reversal symmetry protected gapless Dirac-surface states, have attracted intensive research interests due to their exotic electronic properties. Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs), whose gapless surface states are protected by the crystal symmetry, have recently been proposed and experimentally verified as a new class of TIs. With high surface-to-volume ratio, nanoscale TI and TCI materials such as nanowires and nanoribbons can have significantly enhanced contribution from surface states in carrier transport and are thus ideally suited for the fundamental studies of topologically protected surface state transport and nanodevice fabrication. This article will review the synthesis and transport device measurements of TIs and TCIs nanostructures. (topical review)