Quasi One Dimensional Dirac Electrons on the Surface of Ru₂Sn₃

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We present an ARPES study of the surface states of Ru₂Sn₃, a new type of a strong 3D topological insulator (TI). In contrast to currently known 3D TIs, which display two-dimensional Dirac cones with linear isotropic dispersions crossing through one point in the surface Brillouin Zone (SBZ), the surface states on Ru₂Sn₃ are highly anisotropic, displaying an almost flat dispersion along certain high-symmetry directions. This results in quasi-one dimensional (1D) Dirac electronic states throughout the SBZ that we argue are inherited from features in the bulk electronic structure of Ru₂Sn₃, where the bulk conduction bands are highly anisotropic. Unlike previous experimentally characterized TIs, the topological surface states of Ru₂Sn₃ are the result of a d-p band inversion rather than an s-p band inversion. The observed surface states are the topological equivalent to a single 2D Dirac cone at the surface Brillouin zone