The goal of this paper is to provide an intuitive and useful tool for analyzing the impurity bound state problem. We develop a semiclassical approach and apply it to an impurity in two dimensional systems with parabolic or Dirac like bands. Our method consists of reducing a higher dimensional problem into a sum of one dimensional ones using the two dimensional Green functions as a guide. We then analyze the one dimensional effective systems in the spirit of the wave function matching method as in the standard 1d quantum model. We demonstrate our method on two dimensional models with parabolic and Dirac-like dispersion, with the later specifically relevant to topological insulators.
Quasiparticle states in Dirac systems with complex impurity potentials are investigated. It is shown that an impurity site with loss leads to a nontrivial distribution of the local density of states (LDOS). While the real part of defect potential induces a well-pronounced peak in the density of states (DOS), the DOS is either weakly enhanced at small frequencies or even forms a peak at the zero frequency for a lattice in the case of non-Hermitian impurity. As for the spatial distribution of the LDOS, it is enhanced in the vicinity of impurity but shows a dip at a defect itself when the potential is sufficiently strong. The results for a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice demonstrate the characteristic trigonal-shaped profile for the LDOS. The latter acquires a double-trigonal pattern in the case of two defects placed at neighboring sites. The effects of non-Hermitian impurities could be tested both in photonic lattices and certain condensed matter setups.
The electronic properties of non-interacting particles moving on a two-dimensional bricklayer lattice are investigated numerically. In particular, the influence of disorder in form of a spatially varying random magnetic flux is studied. In addition, a strong perpendicular constant magnetic field $B$ is considered. The density of states $rho(E)$ goes to zero for $Eto 0$ as in the ordered system, but with a much steeper slope. This happens for both cases: at the Dirac point for B=0 and at the center of the central Landau band for finite $B$. Close to the Dirac point, the dependence of $rho(E)$ on the system size, on the disorder strength, and on the constant magnetic flux density is analyzed and fitted to an analytical expression proposed previously in connection with the thermal quantum Hall effect. Additional short-range on-site disorder completely replenishes the indentation in the density of states at the Dirac point.
We study the effect of strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) on bound states induced by impurities in superconductors. The presence of spin-orbit coupling breaks the $mathbb{SU}(2)$-spin symmetry and causes the superconducting order parameter to have generically both singlet (s-wave) and triplet (p-wave) components. We find that in the presence of SOC the spectrum of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states is qualitatively different in s-wave and p-wave superconductor, a fact that can be used to identify the superconducting pairing symmetry of the host system. We also predict that in the presence of SOC the spectrum of the impurity-induced bound states depends on the orientation of the magnetic moment $bf{S}$ of the impurity and, in particular, that by changing the orientation of $bf{S}$ the fermion-parity of the lowest energy bound state can be tuned. We then study the case of a dimer of magnetic impurities and show that in this case the YSR spectrum for a p-wave superconductor is qualitatively very different from the one for an s-wave superconductor even in the limit of vanishing SOC. Our predictions can be used to distinguish the symmetry of the order parameter and have implications for the Majorana proposals based on chains of magnetic atoms placed on the surface of superconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling.
New insights into transport properties of nanostructures with a linear dispersion along one direction and a quadratic dispersion along another are obtained by analysing their spectral stability properties under small perturbations. Physically relevant sufficient and necessary conditions to guarantee the existence of discrete eigenvalues are derived under rather general assumptions on external fields. One of the most interesting features of the analysis is the evident spectral instability of the systems in the weakly coupled regime. The rigorous theoretical results are illustrated by numerical experiments and predictions for physical experiments are made.
Electrons in a Dirac semimetals possess linear dispersion in all three spatial dimensions, and form part of a developing platform of novel quantum materials. Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_x$ supports a three-dimensional Dirac cone at the Sb-induced band inversion point. Nanoscale phase-sensitive junction technology is used to induce superconductivity in this Dirac semimetal. Radio frequency irradiation experiments reveal a significant contribution of 4$pi$-periodic Andreev bound states to the supercurrent in Nb-Bi$_{0.97}$Sb$_{0.03}$-Nb Josephson junctions. The conditions for a substantial $4pi$ contribution to the supercurrent are favourable because of the Dirac cones topological protection against backscattering, providing very broad transmission resonances. The large g-factor of the Zeeman effect from a magnetic field applied in the plane of the junction, allows tuning of the Josephson junctions from 0 to $pi$ regimes.