No Arabic abstract
We examine the properties of edge states in a two-dimensional topological insulator. Based on the Kane-Mele model, we derive two coupled equations for the energy and the effective width of edge states at a given momentum in a semi-infinite honeycomb lattice with a zigzag boundary. It is revealed that, in a one-dimensional Brillouin zone, the edge states merge into the continuous bands of the bulk states through a bifurcation of the edge-state width. We discuss the implications of the results to the experiments in monolayer or thin films of topological insulators.
Pulsed magnetic fields of up to 55T are used to investigate the transport properties of the topological insulator Bi_2Se_3 in the extreme quantum limit. For samples with a bulk carrier density of n = 2.9times10^16cm^-3, the lowest Landau level of the bulk 3D Fermi surface is reached by a field of 4T. For fields well beyond this limit, Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations arising from quantization of the 2D surface state are observed, with the u =1 Landau level attained by a field of 35T. These measurements reveal the presence of additional oscillations which occur at fields corresponding to simple rational fractions of the integer Landau indices.
Josephson weak links made of two-dimensional topological insulators (TIs) exhibit magnetic oscillations of the supercurrent that are reminiscent of those in superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). We propose a microscopic theory of this effect that goes beyond the approaches based on the standard SQUID theory. For long junctions we find a temperature-driven crossover from Phi_0-periodic SQUID-like oscillations to a 2 Phi_0-quasiperiodic interference pattern with different peaks at even and odd values of the magnetic flux quantum Phi_0=ch/2e. This behavior is absent in short junctions where the main interference signal occurs at zero magnetic field. Both types of interference patterns reveal gapless (protected) Andreev bound states. We show, however, that the usual sawtooth current-flux relationship is profoundly modified by a Doppler-like effect of the shielding current which has been overlooked previously. Our findings may explain recently observed even-odd interference patterns in InAs/GaSb-based TI Josephson junctions and uncover unexplored operation regimes of nano-SQUIDs.
Topological superconductivity is an exotic state of matter that supports Majorana zero-modes, which are surface modes in 3D, edge modes in 2D or localized end states in 1D. In the case of complete localization these Majorana modes obey non-Abelian exchange statistics making them interesting building blocks for topological quantum computing. Here we report superconductivity induced into the edge modes of semiconducting InAs/GaSb quantum wells, a two-dimensional topological insulator. Using superconducting quantum interference, we demonstrate gate-tuning between edge-dominated and bulk-dominated regimes of superconducting transport. The edge-dominated regime arises only under conditions of high-bulk resistivity, which we associate with the 2D topological phase. These experiments establish InAs/GaSb as a robust platform for further confinement of Majoranas into localized states enabling future investigations of non-Abelian statistics.
Helical edge states of two-dimensional topological insulators show a gap in the Density of States (DOS) and suppressed conductance in the presence of ordered magnetic impurities. Here we will consider the dynamical effects on the DOS and transmission when the magnetic impurities are driven periodically. Using the Floquet formalism and Greens functions, the system properties are studied as a function of the driving frequency and the potential energy contribution of the impurities. We see that increasing the potential part closes the DOS gap for all driving regimes. The transmission gap is also closed, showing an pronounced asymmetry as a function of energy. These features indicate that the dynamical transport properties could yield valuable information about the magnetic impurities.
The two-dimensional topological insulator phase has been observed previously in single HgTe-based quantum wells with inverted subband ordering. In double quantum wells (DQWs), coupling between the layers introduces additional degrees of freedom leading to a rich phase picture. By studying local and nonlocal resistance in HgTe-based DQWs, we observe both the gapless semimetal phase and the topological insulator phase, depending on parameters of the samples and according to theoretical predictions. Our work establishes the DQWs as a promising platform for realization of multilayer topological insulators.