  Possible topological nature of Kondo and mixed valence insulators has been a
recent topic of interest in condensed matter physics. Attention has focused on
SmB6, which has long been known to exhibit low temperature transport anomaly,
whose origin is of independent interest. We argue that it is possible to
resolve the topological nature of surface states by uniquely accessing the
surface electronic structure of the low temperature anomalous transport regime
through combining state-of-the-art laser- and synchrotron-based angle-resolved
photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) with or without spin resolution. A
combination of low temperature and ultra-high resolution (laser) which is
lacking in previous ARPES studies of this compound is the key to resolve the
possible existence of topological surface state in SmB6. Here we outline an
experimental algorithm to systematically explore the topological versus trivial
or mixed (topological and trivial surface state admixture as in the first 3D TI
Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_x$) nature of the surface states in Kondo and mixed valence
insulators. We conclude based on this methodology that the observed topology of
the surface Fermi surface in our low temperature data considered within the
level of current resolution is consistent with the theoretically predicted
topological picture, suggesting a topological origin of the dominant in-gap
ARPES signal in SmB6.}
