No Arabic abstract
From the analysis of the cyclotron resonance, we experimentally obtain the band structure of the three-dimensional topological insulator based on a HgTe thin film. Top gating was used to shift the Fermi level in the film, allowing us to detect separate resonance modes corresponding to the surface states at two opposite film interfaces, the bulk conduction band, and the valence band. The experimental band structure agrees reasonably well with the predictions of the $mathbf{kcdot p}$ model. Due to the strong hybridization of the surface and bulk bands, the dispersion of the surface states is close to parabolic in the broad range of the electron energies.
The surface states of the three dimensional (3D) Topological Insulators are described by two-dimensional (2D) massless dirac equation. A gate voltage induced one dimensional potential barrier on such surface creates a discrete bound state in the forbidden region outside the dirac cone. Even for a single barrier it is shown such bound state can create electrostatic analogue of Shubnikov de Haas oscillation which can be experimentally observed for relatively smaller size samples. However when these surface states are exposed to a periodic arrangement of such gate voltage induced potential barriers, the band structure of the same got nontrivially modified. This is expected to significantly alters the properties of macroscopic system. We also suggest that in suitable limit the system may offer ways to control electron spin electrostatically which may be practically useful.
The three dimensional (3D) topological insulators are predicted to exhibit a 3D Dirac semimetal state in critical regime of topological to trivial phase transition. Here we demonstrate the first experimental evidence of 3D Dirac semimetal state in topological insulator Bi2Se3 with bulk carrier concentration of ~ 10^19 cm^{-3}, using magneto-transport measurements. At low temperatures, the resistivity of our Bi2Se3 crystal exhibits clear Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations above 6T. The analysis of these oscillations through Lifshitz-Onsanger and Lifshitz-Kosevich theory reveals a non-trivial pi Berry phase coming from 3D bands, which is a decisive signature of 3D Dirac semimetal state. The large value of Dingle temperature and natural selenium vacancies in our crystal suggest that the observed 3D Dirac semimetal state is an outcome of enhanced strain field and weaker effective spin-orbit coupling.
Recent acoustic and electrical-circuit experiments have reported the third-order (or octupole) topological insulating phase, while its counterpart in classical magnetic systems is yet to be realized. Here we explore the collective dynamics of magnetic vortices in three-dimensional breathing cuboids, and find that the vortex lattice can support zero-dimensional corner states, one-dimensional hinge states, two-dimensional surface states, and three-dimensional bulk states, when the ratio of alternating intralayer and interlayer bond lengths goes beyond a critical value. We show that only the corner states are stable against external frustrations because of the topological protection. Full micromagnetic simulations verify our theoretical predictions with good agreement.
The thermoelectric response of HgTe quantum wells in the state of two-dimensional topological insulator (2D TI) has been studied experimentally. Ambipolar thermopower, typical for an electron-hole system, has been observed across the charge neutrality point, where the carrier type changes from electrons to holes according to the resistance measurements. The hole-type thermopower is much stronger than the electron-type one. The thermopower linearly increases with temperature. We present a theoretical model which accounts for both the edge and bulk contributions to the electrical conductivity and thermoelectric effect in a 2D TI, including the effects of edge to bulk leakage. The model, contrary to previous theoretical studies, demonstrates that the 2D TI is not expected to show anomalies of thermopower near the band conductivity threshold, which is consistent with our experimental results. Based on the experimental data and theoretical analysis, we conclude that the observed thermopower is mostly of the bulk origin, while the resistance is determined by both the edge and bulk transport.
In recent attempts to observe axion electrodynamics, much effort has focused on trilayer heterostructures of magnetic topological insulators, and in particular on the examination of a so-called zero Hall plateau, which has misguidedly been overstated as direct evidence of an axion insulator state. We investigate the general notion of axion insulators, which by definition must contain a nontrivial volume to host the axion term. We conduct a detailed magneto-transport analysis of Chern insulators comprised of a single magnetic topological insulator layer of varying thickness as well as trilayer structures, for samples optimized to yield a perfectly quantized anomalous Hall effect. Our analysis gives evidence for a topological magneto-electric effect quantized in units of e$^2$/2h, allowing us to identify signatures of axion electrodynamics. Our observations may provide direct experimental access to electrodynamic properties of the universe beyond the traditional Maxwell equations, and challenge the hitherto proclaimed exclusive link between the observation of a zero Hall plateau and an axion insulator.