Catalyst-free MBE growth of PbSnTe nanowires with tunable aspect ratio.

Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) are interesting for their topological surface states, which hold great promise for scattering-free transport channels and fault-tolerant quantum computing. A promising TCI is SnTe. However, Sn-vacancies form in SnTe, causing a high hole density, hindering topological transport from the surface being measured.