No Arabic abstract
We study electronic transport across a helical edge state exposed to a uniform magnetic ({$vec B$}) field over a finite length. We show that this system exhibits Fabry-Perot type resonances in electronic transport. The intrinsic spin anisotropy of the helical edge states allows us to tune these resonances by changing the direction of the {$vec B$} field while keeping its magnitude constant. This is in sharp contrast to the case of non-helical one dimensional electron gases with a parabolic dispersion, where similar resonances do appear in individual spin channels ($uparrow$ and $downarrow$) separately which, however, cannot be tuned by merely changing the direction of the {$vec B$} field. These resonances provide a unique way to probe the helical nature of the theory.
Theoretically, the helical edge states of two-dimensional topological insulators are protected from coherent backscattering due to nonmagnetic disorder provided electron interactions are not too strong. Experimentally, the edges typically do not demonstrate the systematic and robust quantization, at the same time little is known about the sub-Kelvin temperature behavior. Here, we report the surprising localization of the edge states in an 8 nm HgTe quantum well in zero magnetic field at millikelvin temperatures. Additionally, the magnetoresistance data at 0.5 K for the edges few micrometers long suggests the field-dependent localization length $l_Bpropto B^{-alpha}$, with $alpha$ ranging approximately from $1.6$ to $2.8$ at fields $Blesssim0.1,text{T}$ and $alphaapprox1.1$ at higher fields up to $0.5,text{T}$. In the frame of disordered interacting edge, these values of $alpha$ correspond to the Luttinger liquid parameters $Kapprox 0.9-1.1$ and $Kapprox 0.6$, respectively. We discuss possible scenarios which could result in the zero magnetic field localization.
The presence of edges locally breaks the inversion symmetry of heterostructures and gives rise to lateral (edge) spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which, under some conditions, can lead to the formation of helical edge states. If the edge SOC is strong enough, the helical edge states can penetrate the band-gap and be energetically isolated from the bulk-like states. As a result backward scattering is suppressed, dissipationless helical edge channels protected against time-inversion symmetric perturbations emerge, and the system behaves as a 2D topological insulator (TI). However, unlike in previous works on TIs, the mechanism proposed here for the creation of protected helical edge states relies on the strong edge SOC rather than on band inversion.
We propose an intrinsic 3D Fabry-Perot type interferometer, coined higher-order interferometer, that utilizes the chiral hinge states of second-order topological insulators and cannot be equivalently mapped to 2D space because of higher-order topology. Quantum interference patterns in the two-terminal conductance of this interferometer are controllable not only by tuning the strength but also, particularly, by rotating the direction of the magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the transport direction. Remarkably, the conductance exhibits a characteristic beating pattern with multiple frequencies with respect to field strength or direction. Our novel interferometer provides feasible and robust magneto-transport signatures to probe the particular hinge states of higher-order topological insulators.
We investigate nonlinear transport in electronic Fabry-Perot interferometers in the integer quantum Hall regime. For interferometers sufficiently large that Coulomb blockade effects are absent, a checkerboard-like pattern of conductance oscillations as a function of dc bias and perpendicular magnetic field is observed. Edge-state velocities extracted from the checkerboard data are compared to model calculations and found to be consistent with a crossover from skipping orbits at low fields to E x B drift at high fields. Suppression of visibility as a function of bias and magnetic field is accounted for by including energy- and field-dependent dephasing of edge electrons.
A Fabry-Perot-type interferometer is experimentally realized for electrons in a semiconductor device. A special experimental geometry creates interference conditions for co-propagating electrons in quantum Hall edge states, which results in oscillations of the current through the device. The visibility of these oscillations is found to increase at the high-field edge of the quantum Hall plateau.