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Sample records for two-dimensional topological insulator

  1. Identifying Two-Dimensional Z 2 Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bègue, F.; Pujol, P.; Ramazashvili, R.

    2018-01-01

    We revisit the question of whether a two-dimensional topological insulator may arise in a commensurate Néel antiferromagnet, where staggered magnetization breaks the symmetry with respect to both elementary translation and time reversal, but retains their product as a symmetry. In contrast to the so-called Z 2 topological insulators, an exhaustive characterization of antiferromagnetic topological phases with the help of topological invariants has been missing. We analyze a simple model of an antiferromagnetic topological insulator and chart its phase diagram, using a recently proposed criterion for centrosymmetric systems [13]. We then adapt two methods, originally designed for paramagnetic systems, and make antiferromagnetic topological phases manifest. The proposed methods apply far beyond the particular examples treated in this work, and admit straightforward generalization. We illustrate this by two examples of non-centrosymmetric systems, where no simple criteria have been known to identify topological phases. We also present, for some cases, an explicit construction of edge states in an antiferromagnetic topological insulator.

  2. Disorder effect in two-dimensional topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Xianglin; Feng Shiping; Guo Huaiming

    2012-01-01

    We conduct a systematic study on the disorder effect in two-dimensional (2D) topological insulators by calculating the Z 2 topological invariant. Starting from the trivial and nontrivial topological phases of the model describing HgTe/CdTe quantum wells (QWs), we introduce three different kinds of disorder into the system, including the fluctuations in the on-site potential, the hopping amplitude and the topological mass. These kinds of disorder commonly exist in HgTe/CdTe QWs grown experimentally. By explicit numerical calculations, we show that all three kinds of disorder have the similar effect: the topological phase in the system is not only robust to them, but also can be brought about by introducing them to the trivial insulator phase. These results make a further confirmation and extendability of the study on the interplay between the disorder and the topological phase.

  3. Optical transitions in two-dimensional topological insulators with point defects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sablikov, Vladimir A.; Sukhanov, Aleksei A.

    2016-12-01

    Nontrivial properties of electronic states in topological insulators are inherent not only to the surface and boundary states, but to bound states localized at structure defects as well. We clarify how the unusual properties of the defect-induced bound states are manifested in optical absorption spectra in two-dimensional topological insulators. The calculations are carried out for defects with short-range potential. We find that the defects give rise to the appearance of specific features in the absorption spectrum, which are an inherent property of topological insulators. They have the form of two or three absorption peaks that are due to intracenter transitions between electron-like and hole-like bound states.

  4. Spin-orbit torque in two-dimensional antiferromagnetic topological insulators

    KAUST Repository

    Ghosh, Sumit; Manchon, Aurelien

    2017-01-01

    We investigate spin transport in two-dimensional ferromagnetic (FTI) and antiferromagnetic (AFTI) topological insulators. In the presence of an in-plane magnetization AFTI supports zero energy modes, which enables topologically protected edge conduction at low energy. We address the nature of current-driven spin torque in these structures and study the impact of spin-independent disorder. Interestingly, upon strong disorder the spin torque develops an antidamping component (i.e., even upon magnetization reversal) along the edges, which could enable current-driven manipulation of the antiferromagnetic order parameter. This antidamping torque decreases when increasing the system size and when the system enters the trivial insulator regime.

  5. Spin-orbit torque in two-dimensional antiferromagnetic topological insulators

    KAUST Repository

    Ghosh, Sumit

    2017-01-24

    We investigate spin transport in two-dimensional ferromagnetic (FTI) and antiferromagnetic (AFTI) topological insulators. In the presence of an in-plane magnetization AFTI supports zero energy modes, which enables topologically protected edge conduction at low energy. We address the nature of current-driven spin torque in these structures and study the impact of spin-independent disorder. Interestingly, upon strong disorder the spin torque develops an antidamping component (i.e., even upon magnetization reversal) along the edges, which could enable current-driven manipulation of the antiferromagnetic order parameter. This antidamping torque decreases when increasing the system size and when the system enters the trivial insulator regime.

  6. Two dimensional topological insulator in quantizing magnetic fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olshanetsky, E. B.; Kvon, Z. D.; Gusev, G. M.; Mikhailov, N. N.; Dvoretsky, S. A.

    2018-05-01

    The effect of quantizing magnetic field on the electron transport is investigated in a two dimensional topological insulator (2D TI) based on a 8 nm (013) HgTe quantum well (QW). The local resistance behavior is indicative of a metal-insulator transition at B ≈ 6 T. On the whole the experimental data agrees with the theory according to which the helical edge states transport in a 2D TI persists from zero up to a critical magnetic field Bc after which a gap opens up in the 2D TI spectrum.

  7. Topological origin of edge states in two-dimensional inversion-symmetric insulators and semimetals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Miert, Guido van|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/413490378; Ortix, Carmine|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/413315304; de Morais Smith, C.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304836346

    2017-01-01

    Symmetries play an essential role in identifying and characterizing topological states of matter. Here, we classify topologically two-dimensional (2D) insulators and semimetals with vanishing spin-orbit coupling using time-reversal ($\\mathcal{T}$) and inversion ($\\mathcal{I}$) symmetry. This allows

  8. Dimensional crossover and cold-atom realization of topological Mott insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheurer, Mathias S.; Rachel, Stephan; Orth, Peter P.

    2015-02-01

    Interacting cold-atomic gases in optical lattices offer an experimental approach to outstanding problems of many body physics. One important example is the interplay of interaction and topology which promises to generate a variety of exotic phases such as the fractionalized Chern insulator or the topological Mott insulator. Both theoretically understanding these states of matter and finding suitable systems that host them have proven to be challenging problems. Here we propose a cold-atom setup where Hubbard on-site interactions give rise to spin liquid-like phases: weak and strong topological Mott insulators. They represent the celebrated paradigm of an interacting and topological quantum state with fractionalized spinon excitations that inherit the topology of the non-interacting system. Our proposal shall help to pave the way for a controlled experimental investigation of this exotic state of matter in optical lattices. Furthermore, it allows for the investigation of a dimensional crossover from a two-dimensional quantum spin Hall insulating phase to a three-dimensional strong topological insulator by tuning the hopping between the layers.

  9. Topological insulators and superconductors: tenfold way and dimensional hierarchy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryu, Shinsei; Schnyder, Andreas P; Furusaki, Akira; Ludwig, Andreas W W

    2010-01-01

    It has recently been shown that in every spatial dimension there exist precisely five distinct classes of topological insulators or superconductors. Within a given class, the different topological sectors can be distinguished, depending on the case, by a Z or a Z 2 topological invariant. This is an exhaustive classification. Here we construct representatives of topological insulators and superconductors for all five classes and in arbitrary spatial dimension d, in terms of Dirac Hamiltonians. Using these representatives we demonstrate how topological insulators (superconductors) in different dimensions and different classes can be related via 'dimensional reduction' by compactifying one or more spatial dimensions (in 'Kaluza-Klein'-like fashion). For Z-topological insulators (superconductors) this proceeds by descending by one dimension at a time into a different class. The Z 2 -topological insulators (superconductors), on the other hand, are shown to be lower-dimensional descendants of parent Z-topological insulators in the same class, from which they inherit their topological properties. The eightfold periodicity in dimension d that exists for topological insulators (superconductors) with Hamiltonians satisfying at least one reality condition (arising from time-reversal or charge-conjugation/particle-hole symmetries) is a reflection of the eightfold periodicity of the spinor representations of the orthogonal groups SO(N) (a form of Bott periodicity). Furthermore, we derive for general spatial dimensions a relation between the topological invariant that characterizes topological insulators and superconductors with chiral symmetry (i.e., the winding number) and the Chern-Simons invariant. For lower-dimensional cases, this formula relates the winding number to the electric polarization (d=1 spatial dimensions) or to the magnetoelectric polarizability (d=3 spatial dimensions). Finally, we also discuss topological field theories describing the spacetime theory of

  10. Three-dimensional topological insulators and bosonization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cappelli, Andrea [INFN, Sezione di Firenze,Via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino - Firenze (Italy); Randellini, Enrico [INFN, Sezione di Firenze,Via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino - Firenze (Italy); Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze,Via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino - Firenze (Italy); Sisti, Jacopo [Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA),Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste (Italy)

    2017-05-25

    Massless excitations at the surface of three-dimensional time-reversal invariant topological insulators possess both fermionic and bosonic descriptions, originating from band theory and hydrodynamic BF theory, respectively. We analyze the corresponding field theories of the Dirac fermion and compactified boson and compute their partition functions on the three-dimensional torus geometry. We then find some non-dynamic exact properties of bosonization in (2+1) dimensions, regarding fermion parity and spin sectors. Using these results, we extend the Fu-Kane-Mele stability argument to fractional topological insulators in three dimensions.

  11. Higher dimensional quantum Hall effect as A-class topological insulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hasebe, Kazuki, E-mail: khasebe@stanford.edu

    2014-09-15

    We perform a detail study of higher dimensional quantum Hall effects and A-class topological insulators with emphasis on their relations to non-commutative geometry. There are two different formulations of non-commutative geometry for higher dimensional fuzzy spheres: the ordinary commutator formulation and quantum Nambu bracket formulation. Corresponding to these formulations, we introduce two kinds of monopole gauge fields: non-abelian gauge field and antisymmetric tensor gauge field, which respectively realize the non-commutative geometry of fuzzy sphere in the lowest Landau level. We establish connection between the two types of monopole gauge fields through Chern–Simons term, and derive explicit form of tensor monopole gauge fields with higher string-like singularity. The connection between two types of monopole is applied to generalize the concept of flux attachment in quantum Hall effect to A-class topological insulator. We propose tensor type Chern–Simons theory as the effective field theory for membranes in A-class topological insulators. Membranes turn out to be fractionally charged objects and the phase entanglement mediated by tensor gauge field transforms the membrane statistics to be anyonic. The index theorem supports the dimensional hierarchy of A-class topological insulator. Analogies to D-brane physics of string theory are discussed too.

  12. Two-dimensional ferroelectric topological insulators in functionalized atomically thin bismuth layers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kou, Liangzhi; Fu, Huixia; Ma, Yandong; Yan, Binghai; Liao, Ting; Du, Aijun; Chen, Changfeng

    2018-02-01

    We introduce a class of two-dimensional (2D) materials that possess coexisting ferroelectric and topologically insulating orders. Such ferroelectric topological insulators (FETIs) occur in noncentrosymmetric atomic layer structures with strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We showcase a prototype 2D FETI in an atomically thin bismuth layer functionalized by C H2OH , which exhibits a large ferroelectric polarization that is switchable by a ligand molecule rotation mechanism and a strong SOC that drives a band inversion leading to the topologically insulating state. An external electric field that switches the ferroelectric polarization also tunes the spin texture in the underlying atomic lattice. Moreover, the functionalized bismuth layer exhibits an additional quantum order driven by the valley splitting at the K and K' points in the Brillouin zone stemming from the symmetry breaking and strong SOC in the system, resulting in a remarkable state of matter with the simultaneous presence of the quantum spin Hall and quantum valley Hall effect. These phenomena are predicted to exist in other similarly constructed 2D FETIs, thereby offering a unique quantum material platform for discovering novel physics and exploring innovative applications.

  13. All-electric spin modulator based on a two-dimensional topological insulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xiao, Xianbo; Ai, Guoping [School of Computer Science, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004 (China); Liu, Ying; Yang, Shengyuan A., E-mail: shengyuan-yang@sutd.edu.sg [Research Laboratory for Quantum Materials, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore 487372 (Singapore); Liu, Zhengfang [School of Science, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang 330013 (China); Zhou, Guanghui, E-mail: ghzhou@hunnu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory for Low-Dimensional Structures and Quantum Manipulation (Ministry of Education), and Synergetic Innovation Center for Quantum Effects and Applications, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081 (China)

    2016-01-18

    We propose and investigate a spin modulator device consisting of two ferromagnetic leads connected by a two-dimensional topological insulator as the channel material. It exploits the unique features of the topological spin-helical edge states, such that the injected carriers with a non-collinear spin-polarization direction would travel through both edges and show interference effect. The conductance of the device can be controlled in a simple and all-electric manner by a side-gate voltage, which effectively rotates the spin-polarization of the carrier. At low voltages, the rotation angle is linear in the gate voltage, and the device can function as a good spin-polarization rotator by replacing the drain electrode with a non-magnetic material.

  14. Effect of static charge fluctuations on the conduction along the edge of two-dimensional topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vayrynen, Jukka; Goldstein, Moshe; Glazman, Leonid

    2013-03-01

    Static charge disorder may create electron puddles in the bulk of a material which nominally is in the insulating state. A single puddle - quantum dot - coupled to the helical edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator enhances the electron backscattering within the edge. The backscattering rate increases with the electron dwelling time in the dot. While remaining inelastic, the backscattering off a dot may be far more effective than the proposed earlier inelastic processes involving a local scatterer with no internal structure. We find the temperature dependence of the dot-induced correction to the universal conductance of the edge. In addition to the single-dot effect, we calculate the classical temperature-independent conductance correction caused by a weakly conducting bulk. We use our theory to assess the effect of static charge fluctuations in a heterostructure on the edge electron transport in a two-dimensional topological insulator. The work at Yale University is supported by NSF DMR Grant No. 1206612 and the Simons Foundation.

  15. Two-dimensional topological photonic systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiao-Chen; He, Cheng; Liu, Xiao-Ping; Lu, Ming-Hui; Zhu, Shi-Ning; Chen, Yan-Feng

    2017-09-01

    The topological phase of matter, originally proposed and first demonstrated in fermionic electronic systems, has drawn considerable research attention in the past decades due to its robust transport of edge states and its potential with respect to future quantum information, communication, and computation. Recently, searching for such a unique material phase in bosonic systems has become a hot research topic worldwide. So far, many bosonic topological models and methods for realizing them have been discovered in photonic systems, acoustic systems, mechanical systems, etc. These discoveries have certainly yielded vast opportunities in designing material phases and related properties in the topological domain. In this review, we first focus on some of the representative photonic topological models and employ the underlying Dirac model to analyze the edge states and geometric phase. On the basis of these models, three common types of two-dimensional topological photonic systems are discussed: 1) photonic quantum Hall effect with broken time-reversal symmetry; 2) photonic topological insulator and the associated pseudo-time-reversal symmetry-protected mechanism; 3) time/space periodically modulated photonic Floquet topological insulator. Finally, we provide a summary and extension of this emerging field, including a brief introduction to the Weyl point in three-dimensional systems.

  16. Topological insulators and topological superconductors

    CERN Document Server

    Bernevig, Andrei B

    2013-01-01

    This graduate-level textbook is the first pedagogical synthesis of the field of topological insulators and superconductors, one of the most exciting areas of research in condensed matter physics. Presenting the latest developments, while providing all the calculations necessary for a self-contained and complete description of the discipline, it is ideal for graduate students and researchers preparing to work in this area, and it will be an essential reference both within and outside the classroom. The book begins with simple concepts such as Berry phases, Dirac fermions, Hall conductance and its link to topology, and the Hofstadter problem of lattice electrons in a magnetic field. It moves on to explain topological phases of matter such as Chern insulators, two- and three-dimensional topological insulators, and Majorana p-wave wires. Additionally, the book covers zero modes on vortices in topological superconductors, time-reversal topological superconductors, and topological responses/field theory and topolo...

  17. Topological Insulators Dirac Equation in Condensed Matters

    CERN Document Server

    Shen, Shun-Qing

    2012-01-01

    Topological insulators are insulating in the bulk, but process metallic states around its boundary owing to the topological origin of the band structure. The metallic edge or surface states are immune to weak disorder or impurities, and robust against the deformation of the system geometry. This book, Topological insulators, presents a unified description of topological insulators from one to three dimensions based on the modified Dirac equation. A series of solutions of the bound states near the boundary are derived, and the existing conditions of these solutions are described. Topological invariants and their applications to a variety of systems from one-dimensional polyacetalene, to two-dimensional quantum spin Hall effect and p-wave superconductors, and three-dimensional topological insulators and superconductors or superfluids are introduced, helping readers to better understand this fascinating new field. This book is intended for researchers and graduate students working in the field of topological in...

  18. Three-dimensional fractional topological insulators in coupled Rashba layers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Volpez, Yanick; Loss, Daniel; Klinovaja, Jelena

    2017-08-01

    We propose a model of three-dimensional topological insulators consisting of weakly coupled electron- and hole-gas layers with Rashba spin-orbit interaction stacked along a given axis. We show that in the presence of strong electron-electron interactions the system realizes a fractional strong topological insulator, where the rotational symmetry and condensation energy arguments still allow us to treat the problem as quasi-one-dimensional with bosonization techniques. We also show that if Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction terms are equally strong, by doping the system with magnetic impurities, one can bring it into the Weyl semimetal phase.

  19. Aharonov–Bohm interference in topological insulator nanoribbons

    KAUST Repository

    Peng, Hailin; Lai, Keji; Kong, Desheng; Meister, Stefan; Chen, Yulin; Qi, Xiao-Liang; Zhang, Shou-Cheng; Shen, Zhi-Xun; Cui, Yi

    2009-01-01

    Topological insulators represent unusual phases of quantum matter with an insulating bulk gap and gapless edges or surface states. The two-dimensional topological insulator phase was predicted in HgTe quantum wells and confirmed by transport

  20. Coupling effect of topological states and Chern insulators in two-dimensional triangular lattices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jiayong; Zhao, Bao; Xue, Yang; Zhou, Tong; Yang, Zhongqin

    2018-03-01

    We investigate topological states of two-dimensional (2D) triangular lattices with multiorbitals. Tight-binding model calculations of a 2D triangular lattice based on px and py orbitals exhibit very interesting doubly degenerate energy points at different positions (Γ and K /K' ) in momentum space, with quadratic non-Dirac and linear Dirac band dispersions, respectively. Counterintuitively, the system shows a global topologically trivial rather than nontrivial state with consideration of spin-orbit coupling due to the "destructive interference effect" between the topological states at the Γ and K /K' points. The topologically nontrivial state can emerge by introducing another set of triangular lattices to the system (bitriangular lattices) due to the breakdown of the interference effect. With first-principles calculations, we predict an intrinsic Chern insulating behavior (quantum anomalous Hall effect) in a family of the 2D triangular lattice metal-organic framework of Co(C21N3H15) (TPyB-Co) from this scheme. Our results provide a different path and theoretical guidance for the search for and design of new 2D topological quantum materials.

  1. Spin-polarized currents in the tunnel contact of a normal conductor and a two-dimensional topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sukhanov, A. A.; Sablikov, V. A.

    2013-01-01

    The spin filtering of electrons tunneling from the edge states of a two-dimensional topological insulator into a normal conductor under a magnetic field (external or induced due to proximity to a magnetic insulator) is studied. Calculations are performed for a tunnel contact of finite length between the topological insulator and an electronic multimode quantum strip. It is shown that the flow of tunneling electrons is split in the strip, so that spin-polarized currents arise in its left and right branches. These currents can be effectively controlled by the contact voltage and the chemical potential of the system. The presence of a magnetic field, which splits the spin subbands of the electron spectrum in the strip, gives rise to switching of the spin current between the strip branches

  2. Topological insulators Dirac equation in condensed matter

    CERN Document Server

    Shen, Shun-Qing

    2017-01-01

    This new edition presents a unified description of these insulators from one to three dimensions based on the modified Dirac equation. It derives a series of solutions of the bound states near the boundary, and describes the current status of these solutions. Readers are introduced to topological invariants and their applications to a variety of systems from one-dimensional polyacetylene, to two-dimensional quantum spin Hall effect and p-wave superconductors, three-dimensional topological insulators and superconductors or superfluids, and topological Weyl semimetals, helping them to better understand this fascinating field. To reflect research advances in topological insulators, several parts of the book have been updated for the second edition, including: Spin-Triplet Superconductors, Superconductivity in Doped Topological Insulators, Detection of Majorana Fermions and so on. In particular, the book features a new chapter on Weyl semimetals, a topic that has attracted considerable attention and has already b...

  3. Aharonov–Bohm interference in topological insulator nanoribbons

    KAUST Repository

    Peng, Hailin

    2009-12-13

    Topological insulators represent unusual phases of quantum matter with an insulating bulk gap and gapless edges or surface states. The two-dimensional topological insulator phase was predicted in HgTe quantum wells and confirmed by transport measurements. Recently, Bi2 Se3 and related materials have been proposed as three-dimensional topological insulators with a single Dirac cone on the surface, protected by time-reversal symmetry. The topological surface states have been observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments. However, few transport measurements in this context have been reported, presumably owing to the predominance of bulk carriers from crystal defects or thermal excitations. Here we show unambiguous transport evidence of topological surface states through periodic quantum interference effects in layered single-crystalline Bi2 Se3 nanoribbons, which have larger surface-to-volume ratios than bulk materials and can therefore manifest surface effects. Pronounced Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in the magnetoresistance clearly demonstrate the coherent propagation of two-dimensional electrons around the perimeter of the nanoribbon surface, as expected from the topological nature of the surface states. The dominance of the primary h/e oscillation, where h is Plancks constant and e is the electron charge, and its temperature dependence demonstrate the robustness of these states. Our results suggest that topological insulator nanoribbons afford promising materials for future spintronic devices at room temperature.

  4. Topological BF field theory description of topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Gil Young; Moore, Joel E.

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → We show that a BF theory is the effective theory of 2D and 3D topological insulators. → The non-gauge-invariance of the bulk theory yields surface terms for a bosonized Dirac fermion. → The 'axion' term in electromagnetism is correctly obtained from gapped surfaces. → Generalizations to possible fractional phases are discussed in closing. - Abstract: Topological phases of matter are described universally by topological field theories in the same way that symmetry-breaking phases of matter are described by Landau-Ginzburg field theories. We propose that topological insulators in two and three dimensions are described by a version of abelian BF theory. For the two-dimensional topological insulator or quantum spin Hall state, this description is essentially equivalent to a pair of Chern-Simons theories, consistent with the realization of this phase as paired integer quantum Hall effect states. The BF description can be motivated from the local excitations produced when a π flux is threaded through this state. For the three-dimensional topological insulator, the BF description is less obvious but quite versatile: it contains a gapless surface Dirac fermion when time-reversal-symmetry is preserved and yields 'axion electrodynamics', i.e., an electromagnetic E . B term, when time-reversal symmetry is broken and the surfaces are gapped. Just as changing the coefficients and charges of 2D Chern-Simons theory allows one to obtain fractional quantum Hall states starting from integer states, BF theory could also describe (at a macroscopic level) fractional 3D topological insulators with fractional statistics of point-like and line-like objects.

  5. Photoinduced Topological Phase Transitions in Topological Magnon Insulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owerre, S A

    2018-03-13

    Topological magnon insulators are the bosonic analogs of electronic topological insulators. They are manifested in magnetic materials with topologically nontrivial magnon bands as realized experimentally in a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) kagomé ferromagnet Cu(1-3, bdc), and they also possess protected magnon edge modes. These topological magnetic materials can transport heat as well as spin currents, hence they can be useful for spintronic applications. Moreover, as magnons are charge-neutral spin-1 bosonic quasiparticles with a magnetic dipole moment, topological magnon materials can also interact with electromagnetic fields through the Aharonov-Casher effect. In this report, we study photoinduced topological phase transitions in intrinsic topological magnon insulators in the kagomé ferromagnets. Using magnonic Floquet-Bloch theory, we show that by varying the light intensity, periodically driven intrinsic topological magnetic materials can be manipulated into different topological phases with different sign of the Berry curvatures and the thermal Hall conductivity. We further show that, under certain conditions, periodically driven gapped topological magnon insulators can also be tuned to synthetic gapless topological magnon semimetals with Dirac-Weyl magnon cones. We envision that this work will pave the way for interesting new potential practical applications in topological magnetic materials.

  6. Quantum anomalous Hall effect and topological phase transition in two-dimensional antiferromagnetic Chern insulator NiOsCl6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Wei-Wei; Li, Lei; Zhao, Jing-Sheng; Liu, Xiao-Xiong; Deng, Jian-Bo; Tao, Xiao-Ma; Hu, Xian-Ru

    2018-05-01

    By doing calculations based on density functional theory, we predict that the two-dimensional anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) NiOsCl6 as a Chern insulator can realize the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect. We investigate the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energies in different magnetic configurations and the Néel AFM configuration is proved to be ground state. When considering spin–orbit coupling (SOC), this layered material with spins perpendicular to the plane shows properties as a Chern insulator characterized by an inversion band structure and a nonzero Chern number. The nontrivial band gap is 37 meV and the Chern number C  =  ‑1, which are induced by a strong SOC and AFM order. With strong SOC, the NiOsCl6 system performs a continuous topological phase transition from the Chern insulator to the trivial insulator upon the increasing Coulomb repulsion U. The critical U c is indicated as 0.23 eV, at which the system is in a metallic phase with . Upon increasing U, the E g reduces linearly with C  =  ‑1 for 0    U c . At last we analysis the QAH properties and this continuous topological phase transition theoretically in a two-band model. This AFM Chern insulator NiOsCl6 proposes not only a promising way to realize the QAH effect, but also a new material to study the continuous topological phase transition.

  7. Measurement of the quantum capacitance from two-dimensional surface state of a topological insulator at room temperature

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, Hyunwoo, E-mail: chw0089@gmail.com [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Tae Geun, E-mail: tgkim1@korea.ac.kr [School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841 (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Changhwan, E-mail: cshin@uos.ac.kr [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504 (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-06-15

    Highlights: • The quantum capacitance in topological insulator (TI) at room temperature is directly revealed. • The physical origin of quantum capacitance, the two dimensional surface state of TI, is experimentally validated. • Theoretically calculated results of ideal quantum capacitance can well predict the experimental data. - Abstract: A topological insulator (TI) is a new kind of material that exhibits unique electronic properties owing to its topological surface state (TSS). Previous studies focused on the transport properties of the TSS, since it can be used as the active channel layer in metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). However, a TI with a negative quantum capacitance (QC) effect can be used in the gate stack of MOSFETs, thereby facilitating the creation of ultra-low power electronics. Therefore, it is important to study the physics behind the QC in TIs in the absence of any external magnetic field, at room temperature. We fabricated a simple capacitor structure using a TI (TI-capacitor: Au-TI-SiO{sub 2}-Si), which shows clear evidence of QC at room temperature. In the capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement, the total capacitance of the TI-capacitor increases in the accumulation regime, since QC is the dominant capacitive component in the series capacitor model (i.e., C{sub T}{sup −1} = C{sub Q}{sup −1} + C{sub SiO2}{sup −1}). Based on the QC model of the two-dimensional electron systems, we quantitatively calculated the QC, and observed that the simulated C-V curve theoretically supports the conclusion that the QC of the TI-capacitor is originated from electron–electron interaction in the two-dimensional surface state of the TI.

  8. Topological Invariants and Ground-State Wave functions of Topological Insulators on a Torus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhong Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We define topological invariants in terms of the ground-state wave functions on a torus. This approach leads to precisely defined formulas for the Hall conductance in four dimensions and the topological magnetoelectric θ term in three dimensions, and their generalizations in higher dimensions. They are valid in the presence of arbitrary many-body interactions and disorder. These topological invariants systematically generalize the two-dimensional Niu-Thouless-Wu formula and will be useful in numerical calculations of disordered topological insulators and strongly correlated topological insulators, especially fractional topological insulators.

  9. A short course on topological insulators band structure and edge states in one and two dimensions

    CERN Document Server

    Asbóth, János K; Pályi, András

    2016-01-01

    This course-based primer provides newcomers to the field with a concise introduction to some of the core topics in the emerging field of topological insulators. The aim is to provide a basic understanding of edge states, bulk topological invariants, and of the bulk--boundary correspondence with as simple mathematical tools as possible. The present approach uses noninteracting lattice models of topological insulators, building gradually on these to arrive from the simplest one-dimensional case (the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model for polyacetylene) to two-dimensional time-reversal invariant topological insulators (the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model for HgTe). In each case the discussion of simple toy models is followed by the formulation of the general arguments regarding topological insulators. The only prerequisite for the reader is a working knowledge in quantum mechanics, the relevant solid state physics background is provided as part of this self-contained text, which is complemented by end-of-chapter problems.

  10. Charge-spin Transport in Surface-disordered Three-dimensional Topological Insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Xingyue

    As one of the most promising candidates for the building block of the novel spintronic circuit, the topological insulator (TI) has attracted world-wide interest of study. Robust topological order protected by time-reversal symmetry (TRS) makes charge transport and spin generation in TIs significantly different from traditional three-dimensional (3D) or two-dimensional (2D) electronic systems. However, to date, charge transport and spin generation in 3D TIs are still primarily modeled as single-surface phenomena, happening independently on top and bottom surfaces. In this dissertation, I will demonstrate via both experimental findings and theoretical modeling that this "single surface'' theory neither correctly describes a realistic 3D TI-based device nor reveals the amazingly distinct physical picture of spin transport dynamics in 3D TIs. Instead, I present a new viewpoint of the spin transport dynamics where the role of the insulating yet topologically non-trivial bulk of a 3D TI becomes explicit. Within this new theory, many mysterious transport and magneto-transport anomalies can be naturally explained. The 3D TI system turns out to be more similar to its low dimensional sibling--2D TI rather than some other systems sharing the Dirac dispersion, such as graphene. This work not only provides valuable fundamental physical insights on charge-spin transport in 3D TIs, but also offers important guidance to the design of 3D TI-based spintronic devices.

  11. Electrically controlled crossing of energy levels in quantum dots in two-dimensional topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sukhanov, Aleksei A.

    2017-05-15

    We study the energy spectra of bound states in quantum dots (QDs) formed by an electrostatic potential in two-dimensional topological insulator (TI) and their transformation with changes in QD depth and radius. It is found that, unlike a trivial insulator, the energy difference between the levels of the ground state and first excited state can decrease with decreasing the radius and increasing the depth of the QD so that these levels intersect under some critical condition. The crossing of the levels results in unusual features of optical properties caused by intraceneter electron transitions. In particular, it leads to significant changes of light absorption due to electron transitions between such levels and to the transient electroluminescence induced by electrical tuning of QD and TI parameters. In the case of magnetic TIs, the polarization direction of the absorbed or emitted circularly polarized light is changed due to the level crossing.

  12. Electrically controlled crossing of energy levels in quantum dots in two-dimensional topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sukhanov, Aleksei A.

    2017-05-01

    We study the energy spectra of bound states in quantum dots (QDs) formed by an electrostatic potential in two-dimensional topological insulator (TI) and their transformation with changes in QD depth and radius. It is found that, unlike a trivial insulator, the energy difference between the levels of the ground state and first excited state can decrease with decreasing the radius and increasing the depth of the QD so that these levels intersect under some critical condition. The crossing of the levels results in unusual features of optical properties caused by intraceneter electron transitions. In particular, it leads to significant changes of light absorption due to electron transitions between such levels and to the transient electroluminescence induced by electrical tuning of QD and TI parameters. In the case of magnetic TIs, the polarization direction of the absorbed or emitted circularly polarized light is changed due to the level crossing.

  13. Magnetotransport and induced superconductivity in Bi based three-dimensional topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Veldhorst, M.; Snelder, M.; Hoek, M.; Molenaar, C.G.; Leusink, D.P.; Golubov, A.A.; Hilgenkamp, H.; Brinkman, A.

    2013-01-01

    The surface of a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator is conducting and the topologically nontrivial nature of the surface states is observed in experiments. It is the aim of this paper to review and analyze experimental observations with respect to the magnetotransport in Bi-based 3D topological insulators, as well as the superconducting transport properties of hybrid structures consisting of superconductors and these topological insulators. The helical spin-momentum coupling of the surface state electrons becomes visible in quantum corrections to the conductivity and magnetoresistance oscillations. An analysis will be provided of the reported magnetoresistance, also in the presence of bulk conductivity shunts. Special attention is given to the large and linear magnetoresistance. Superconductivity can be induced in topological superconductors by means of the proximity effect. The induced supercurrents, Josephson effects and current-phase relations will be reviewed. These materials hold great potential in the field of spintronics and the route towards Majorana devices. (copyright 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

  14. Magnetotransport and induced superconductivity in Bi based three-dimensional topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Veldhorst, M.; Snelder, M.; Hoek, M.; Molenaar, C.G.; Leusink, D.P.; Golubov, A.A.; Hilgenkamp, H.; Brinkman, A. [MESA + Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede (Netherlands)

    2013-02-15

    The surface of a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator is conducting and the topologically nontrivial nature of the surface states is observed in experiments. It is the aim of this paper to review and analyze experimental observations with respect to the magnetotransport in Bi-based 3D topological insulators, as well as the superconducting transport properties of hybrid structures consisting of superconductors and these topological insulators. The helical spin-momentum coupling of the surface state electrons becomes visible in quantum corrections to the conductivity and magnetoresistance oscillations. An analysis will be provided of the reported magnetoresistance, also in the presence of bulk conductivity shunts. Special attention is given to the large and linear magnetoresistance. Superconductivity can be induced in topological superconductors by means of the proximity effect. The induced supercurrents, Josephson effects and current-phase relations will be reviewed. These materials hold great potential in the field of spintronics and the route towards Majorana devices. (copyright 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

  15. HgTe based topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruene, Christoph

    2014-01-01

    This PhD thesis summarizes the discovery of topological insulators and highlights the developments on their experimental observations. The work focuses on HgTe. The thesis is structured as follows: - The first chapter of this thesis will give a brief overview on discoveries in the field of topological insulators. It focuses on works relevant to experimental results presented in the following chapters. This includes a short outline of the early predictions and a summary of important results concerning 2-dimensional topological insulators while the final section discusses observations concerning 3-dimensional topological insulators. - The discovery of the quantum spin Hall effect in HgTe marked the first experimental observation of a topological insulator. Chapter 2 focuses on HgTe quantum wells and the quantum spin Hall effect. The growth of high quality HgTe quantum wells was one of the major goals for this work. In a final set of experiments the spin polarization of the edge channels was investigated. Here, we could make use of the advantage that HgTe quantum well structures exhibit a large Rashba spin orbit splitting. - HgTe as a 3-dimensional topological insulator is presented in chapter 3. - Chapters 4-6 serve as in depth overviews of selected works: Chapter 4 presents a detailed overview on the all electrical detection of the spin Hall effect in HgTe quantum wells. The detection of the spin polarization of the quantum spin Hall effect is shown in chapter 5 and chapter 6 gives a detailed overview on the quantum Hall effect originating from the topological surface state in strained bulk HgTe.

  16. Manipulating topological-insulator properties using quantum confinement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kotulla, M; Zülicke, U

    2017-01-01

    Recent discoveries have spurred the theoretical prediction and experimental realization of novel materials that have topological properties arising from band inversion. Such topological insulators are insulating in the bulk but have conductive surface or edge states. Topological materials show various unusual physical properties and are surmised to enable the creation of exotic Majorana-fermion quasiparticles. How the signatures of topological behavior evolve when the system size is reduced is interesting from both a fundamental and an application-oriented point of view, as such understanding may form the basis for tailoring systems to be in specific topological phases. This work considers the specific case of quantum-well confinement defining two-dimensional layers. Based on the effective-Hamiltonian description of bulk topological insulators, and using a harmonic-oscillator potential as an example for a softer-than-hard-wall confinement, we have studied the interplay of band inversion and size quantization. Our model system provides a useful platform for systematic study of the transition between the normal and topological phases, including the development of band inversion and the formation of massless-Dirac-fermion surface states. The effects of bare size quantization, two-dimensional-subband mixing, and electron–hole asymmetry are disentangled and their respective physical consequences elucidated. (paper)

  17. Topological insulators and superconductors from string theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryu, Shinsei; Takayanagi, Tadashi

    2010-01-01

    Topological insulators and superconductors in different spatial dimensions and with different discrete symmetries have been fully classified recently, revealing a periodic structure for the pattern of possible types of topological insulators and superconductors, both in terms of spatial dimensions and in terms of symmetry classes. It was proposed that K theory is behind the periodicity. On the other hand, D-branes, a solitonic object in string theory, are also known to be classified by K theory. In this paper, by inspecting low-energy effective field theories realized by two parallel D-branes, we establish a one-to-one correspondence between the K-theory classification of topological insulators/superconductors and D-brane charges. In addition, the string theory realization of topological insulators and superconductors comes naturally with gauge interactions, and the Wess-Zumino term of the D-branes gives rise to a gauge field theory of topological nature, such as ones with the Chern-Simons term or the θ term in various dimensions. This sheds light on topological insulators and superconductors beyond noninteracting systems, and the underlying topological field theory description thereof. In particular, our string theory realization includes the honeycomb lattice Kitaev model in two spatial dimensions, and its higher-dimensional extensions. Increasing the number of D-branes naturally leads to a realization of topological insulators and superconductors in terms of holography (AdS/CFT).

  18. Backscattering from width variations in quasi-one-dimensional strips of topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takagaki, Y

    2012-01-01

    Conductance modulations in wide-narrow-wide electron waveguides constructed from a two-dimensional topological insulator are investigated numerically. The conductance exhibits the Fabry-Perot oscillation at the opening of the helical edge states in the narrow segment when the potential offset imposed in the segment is varied. The quantum multiple reflections between the two ends of the narrow segment manifested by the oscillation demonstrate that the topological states are not protected from the scattering caused by an abrupt change in the channel width. The bulk states do not affect the vulnerability against the geometry scattering but they give rise to resonant transmission in an unconventional fashion.

  19. Current-induced switching of magnetic molecules on topological insulator surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Locane, Elina; Brouwer, Piet W.

    2017-03-01

    Electrical currents at the surface or edge of a topological insulator are intrinsically spin polarized. We show that such surface or edge currents can be used to switch the orientation of a molecular magnet weakly coupled to the surface or edge of a topological insulator. For the edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator as well as for the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator the application of a well-chosen surface or edge current can lead to a complete polarization of the molecule if the molecule's magnetic anisotropy axis is appropriately aligned with the current direction. For a generic orientation of the molecule a nonzero but incomplete polarization is obtained. We calculate the probability distribution of the magnetic states and the switching rates as a function of the applied current.

  20. Ripple-modulated electronic structure of a 3D topological insulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okada, Yoshinori; Zhou, Wenwen; Walkup, D; Dhital, Chetan; Wilson, Stephen D; Madhavan, V

    2012-01-01

    Three-dimensional topological insulators host linearly dispersing states with unique properties and a strong potential for applications. An important ingredient in realizing some of the more exotic states in topological insulators is the ability to manipulate local electronic properties. Direct analogy to the Dirac material graphene suggests that a possible avenue for controlling local properties is via a controlled structural deformation such as the formation of ripples. However, the influence of such ripples on topological insulators is yet to be explored. Here we use scanning tunnelling microscopy to determine the effects of one-dimensional buckling on the electronic properties of Bi(2)Te(3.) By tracking spatial variations of the interference patterns generated by the Dirac electrons we show that buckling imposes a periodic potential, which locally modulates the surface-state dispersion. This suggests that forming one- and two-dimensional ripples is a viable method for creating nanoscale potential landscapes that can be used to control the properties of Dirac electrons in topological insulators.

  1. Higher-order topological insulators and superconductors protected by inversion symmetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khalaf, Eslam

    2018-05-01

    We study surface states of topological crystalline insulators and superconductors protected by inversion symmetry. These fall into the category of "higher-order" topological insulators and superconductors which possess surface states that propagate along one-dimensional curves (hinges) or are localized at some points (corners) on the surface. We provide a complete classification of inversion-protected higher-order topological insulators and superconductors in any spatial dimension for the 10 symmetry classes by means of a layer construction. We discuss possible physical realizations of such states starting with a time-reversal-invariant topological insulator (class AII) in three dimensions or a time-reversal-invariant topological superconductor (class DIII) in two or three dimensions. The former exhibits one-dimensional chiral or helical modes propagating along opposite edges, whereas the latter hosts Majorana zero modes localized to two opposite corners. Being protected by inversion, such states are not pinned to a specific pair of edges or corners, thus offering the possibility of controlling their location by applying inversion-symmetric perturbations such as magnetic field.

  2. Topological Field Theory of Time-Reversal Invariant Insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Qi, Xiao-Liang; Hughes, Taylor; Zhang, Shou-Cheng; /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.

    2010-03-19

    We show that the fundamental time reversal invariant (TRI) insulator exists in 4 + 1 dimensions, where the effective field theory is described by the 4 + 1 dimensional Chern-Simons theory and the topological properties of the electronic structure is classified by the second Chern number. These topological properties are the natural generalizations of the time reversal breaking (TRB) quantum Hall insulator in 2 + 1 dimensions. The TRI quantum spin Hall insulator in 2 + 1 dimensions and the topological insulator in 3 + 1 dimension can be obtained as descendants from the fundamental TRI insulator in 4 + 1 dimensions through a dimensional reduction procedure. The effective topological field theory, and the Z{sub 2} topological classification for the TRI insulators in 2+1 and 3+1 dimensions are naturally obtained from this procedure. All physically measurable topological response functions of the TRI insulators are completely described by the effective topological field theory. Our effective topological field theory predicts a number of novel and measurable phenomena, the most striking of which is the topological magneto-electric effect, where an electric field generates a magnetic field in the same direction, with an universal constant of proportionality quantized in odd multiples of the fine structure constant {alpha} = e{sup 2}/hc. Finally, we present a general classification of all topological insulators in various dimensions, and describe them in terms of a unified topological Chern-Simons field theory in phase space.

  3. Lateral topological crystalline insulator heterostructure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Qilong; Dai, Ying; Niu, Chengwang; Ma, Yandong; Wei, Wei; Yu, Lin; Huang, Baibiao

    2017-06-01

    The emergence of lateral heterostructures fabricated by two-dimensional building blocks brings many exciting realms in material science and device physics. Enriching available nanomaterials for creating such heterostructures and enabling the underlying new physics is highly coveted for the integration of next-generation devices. Here, we report a breakthrough in lateral heterostructure based on the monolayer square transition-metal dichalcogenides MX2 (M  =  W, X  =  S/Se) modules. Our results reveal that the MX2 lateral heterostructure (1S-MX2 LHS) can possess excellent thermal and dynamical stability. Remarkably, the highly desired two-dimensional topological crystalline insulator phase is confirmed by the calculated mirror Chern number {{n}\\text{M}}=-1 . A nontrivial band gap of 65 meV is obtained with SOC, indicating the potential for room-temperature observation and applications. The topologically protected edge states emerge at the edges of two different nanoribbons between the bulk band gap, which is consistent with the mirror Chern number. In addition, a strain-induced topological phase transition in 1S-MX2 LHS is also revealed, endowing the potential utilities in electronics and spintronics. Our predictions not only introduce new member and vitality into the studies of lateral heterostructures, but also highlight the promise of lateral heterostructure as appealing topological crystalline insulator platforms with excellent stability for future devices.

  4. Electrically controlled band gap and topological phase transition in two-dimensional multilayer germanane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qi, Jingshan; Li, Xiao; Qian, Xiaofeng

    2016-01-01

    Electrically controlled band gap and topological electronic states are important for the next-generation topological quantum devices. In this letter, we study the electric field control of band gap and topological phase transitions in multilayer germanane. We find that although the monolayer and multilayer germananes are normal insulators, a vertical electric field can significantly reduce the band gap of multilayer germananes owing to the giant Stark effect. The decrease of band gap eventually leads to band inversion, transforming them into topological insulators with nontrivial Z_2 invariant. The electrically controlled topological phase transition in multilayer germananes provides a potential route to manipulate topologically protected edge states and design topological quantum devices. This strategy should be generally applicable to a broad range of materials, including other two-dimensional materials and ultrathin films with controlled growth.

  5. Impact of high-frequency pumping on anomalous finite-size effects in three-dimensional topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pervishko, Anastasiia A.; Yudin, Dmitry; Shelykh, Ivan A.

    2018-02-01

    Lowering of the thickness of a thin-film three-dimensional topological insulator down to a few nanometers results in the gap opening in the spectrum of topologically protected two-dimensional surface states. This phenomenon, which is referred to as the anomalous finite-size effect, originates from hybridization between the states propagating along the opposite boundaries. In this work, we consider a bismuth-based topological insulator and show how the coupling to an intense high-frequency linearly polarized pumping can further be used to manipulate the value of a gap. We address this effect within recently proposed Brillouin-Wigner perturbation theory that allows us to map a time-dependent problem into a stationary one. Our analysis reveals that both the gap and the components of the group velocity of the surface states can be tuned in a controllable fashion by adjusting the intensity of the driving field within an experimentally accessible range and demonstrate the effect of light-induced band inversion in the spectrum of the surface states for high enough values of the pump.

  6. Proximity effects in topological insulator heterostructures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Xiao-Guang; Wu Guang-Fen; Zhang Gu-Feng; Culcer Dimitrie; Zhang Zhen-Yu; Chen Hua

    2013-01-01

    Topological insulators (TIs) are bulk insulators that possess robust helical conducting states along their interfaces with conventional insulators. A tremendous research effort has recently been devoted to Tl-based heterostructures, in which conventional proximity effects give rise to a series of exotic physical phenomena. This paper reviews our recent studies on the potential existence of topological proximity effects at the interface between a topological insulator and a normal insulator or other topologically trivial systems. Using first-principles approaches, we have realized the tunability of the vertical location of the topological helical state via intriguing dual-proximity effects. To further elucidate the control parameters of this effect, we have used the graphene-based heterostructures as prototypical systems to reveal a more complete phase diagram. On the application side of the topological helical states, we have presented a catalysis example, where the topological helical state plays an essential role in facilitating surface reactions by serving as an effective electron bath. These discoveries lay the foundation for accurate manipulation of the real space properties of the topological helical state in TI-based heterostructures and pave the way for realization of the salient functionality of topological insulators in future device applications. (topical review - low-dimensional nanostructures and devices)

  7. Quantum transport in new two-dimensional heterostructures: Thin films of topological insulators, phosphorene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majidi, Leyla; Zare, Moslem; Asgari, Reza

    2018-06-01

    The unusual features of the charge and spin transport characteristics are investigated in new two-dimensional heterostructures. Intraband specular Andreev reflection is realized in a topological insulator thin film normal/superconducting junction in the presence of a gate electric field. Perfect specular electron-hole conversion is shown for different excitation energy values in a wide experimentally available range of the electric field and also for all angles of incidence when the excitation energy has a particular value. It is further demonstrated that the transmission probabilities of the incoming electrons from different spin subbands to the monolayer phosphorene ferromagnetic/normal/ferromagnetic (F/N/F) hybrid structure have different behavior with the angle of incidence and perfect transmission occurs at defined angles of incidence to the proposed structure with different length of the N region, and different alignments of magnetization vectors. Moreover, the sign change of the spin-current density is demonstrated by tuning the chemical potential and exchange field of the F region.

  8. Monolayer group-III monochalcogenides by oxygen functionalization: a promising class of two-dimensional topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Si; Liu, Cheng-Cheng; Zhao, Jijun; Yao, Yugui

    2018-03-01

    Monolayer group-III monochalcogenides (MX, M = Ga, In; X = S, Se, Te), an emerging category of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, hold great promise for electronics, optoelectronics and catalysts. By first-principles calculations, we show that the phonon dispersion and Raman spectra, as well as the electronic and topological properties of monolayer MX can be tuned by oxygen functionalization. Chemisorption of oxygen atoms on one side or both sides of the MX sheet narrows or even closes the band gap, enlarges work function, and significantly reduces the carrier effective mass. More excitingly, InS, InSe, and InTe monolayers with double-side oxygen functionalization are 2D topological insulators with sizeable bulk gap up to 0.21 eV. Their low-energy bands near the Fermi level are dominated by the px and py orbitals of atoms, allowing band engineering via in-plane strains. Our studies provide viable strategy for realizing quantum spin Hall effect in monolayer group-III monochalcogenides at room temperature, and utilizing these novel 2D materials for high-speed and dissipationless transport devices.

  9. Topological phases in a three-dimensional topological insulator with a time-reversal invariant external field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo, Xiaoyong; Ren, Xiaobin; Wang, Gangzhi; Peng, Jie

    2014-01-01

    We investigate the impact of a time-reversal invariant external field on the topological phases of a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator. By taking the momentum k z as a parameter, we calculate the spin-Chern number analytically. It is shown that both the quantum spin Hall phase and the integer quantum Hall phase can be realized in our system. When the strength of the external field is varied, a series of topological phase transitions occurs with the closing of the energy gap or the spin-spectrum gap. In a tight-binding form, the surface modes are discussed numerically to confirm the analytically results. (paper)

  10. Unconventional Topological Phase Transition in Two-Dimensional Systems with Space-Time Inversion Symmetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahn, Junyeong; Yang, Bohm-Jung

    2017-04-01

    We study a topological phase transition between a normal insulator and a quantum spin Hall insulator in two-dimensional (2D) systems with time-reversal and twofold rotation symmetries. Contrary to the case of ordinary time-reversal invariant systems, where a direct transition between two insulators is generally predicted, we find that the topological phase transition in systems with an additional twofold rotation symmetry is mediated by an emergent stable 2D Weyl semimetal phase between two insulators. Here the central role is played by the so-called space-time inversion symmetry, the combination of time-reversal and twofold rotation symmetries, which guarantees the quantization of the Berry phase around a 2D Weyl point even in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. Pair creation and pair annihilation of Weyl points accompanying partner exchange between different pairs induces a jump of a 2D Z2 topological invariant leading to a topological phase transition. According to our theory, the topological phase transition in HgTe /CdTe quantum well structure is mediated by a stable 2D Weyl semimetal phase because the quantum well, lacking inversion symmetry intrinsically, has twofold rotation about the growth direction. Namely, the HgTe /CdTe quantum well can show 2D Weyl semimetallic behavior within a small but finite interval in the thickness of HgTe layers between a normal insulator and a quantum spin Hall insulator. We also propose that few-layer black phosphorus under perpendicular electric field is another candidate system to observe the unconventional topological phase transition mechanism accompanied by the emerging 2D Weyl semimetal phase protected by space-time inversion symmetry.

  11. Two-dimensional topological photonics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khanikaev, Alexander B.; Shvets, Gennady

    2017-12-01

    Originating from the studies of two-dimensional condensed-matter states, the concept of topological order has recently been expanded to other fields of physics and engineering, particularly optics and photonics. Topological photonic structures have already overturned some of the traditional views on wave propagation and manipulation. The application of topological concepts to guided wave propagation has enabled novel photonic devices, such as reflection-free sharply bent waveguides, robust delay lines, spin-polarized switches and non-reciprocal devices. Discrete degrees of freedom, widely used in condensed-matter physics, such as spin and valley, are now entering the realm of photonics. In this Review, we summarize the latest advances in this highly dynamic field, with special emphasis on the experimental work on two-dimensional photonic topological structures.

  12. Chiral topological insulator of magnons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Bo; Kovalev, Alexey A.

    2018-05-01

    We propose a magnon realization of 3D topological insulator in the AIII (chiral symmetry) topological class. The topological magnon gap opens due to the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. The existence of the topological invariant is established by calculating the bulk winding number of the system. Within our model, the surface magnon Dirac cone is protected by the sublattice chiral symmetry. By analyzing the magnon surface modes, we confirm that the backscattering is prohibited. By weakly breaking the chiral symmetry, we observe the magnon Hall response on the surface due to opening of the gap. Finally, we show that by changing certain parameters, the system can be tuned between the chiral topological insulator, three-dimensional magnon anomalous Hall, and Weyl magnon phases.

  13. Observation of a phononic quadrupole topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serra-Garcia, Marc; Peri, Valerio; Süsstrunk, Roman; Bilal, Osama R.; Larsen, Tom; Villanueva, Luis Guillermo; Huber, Sebastian D.

    2018-03-01

    The modern theory of charge polarization in solids is based on a generalization of Berry’s phase. The possibility of the quantization of this phase arising from parallel transport in momentum space is essential to our understanding of systems with topological band structures. Although based on the concept of charge polarization, this same theory can also be used to characterize the Bloch bands of neutral bosonic systems such as photonic or phononic crystals. The theory of this quantized polarization has recently been extended from the dipole moment to higher multipole moments. In particular, a two-dimensional quantized quadrupole insulator is predicted to have gapped yet topological one-dimensional edge modes, which stabilize zero-dimensional in-gap corner states. However, such a state of matter has not previously been observed experimentally. Here we report measurements of a phononic quadrupole topological insulator. We experimentally characterize the bulk, edge and corner physics of a mechanical metamaterial (a material with tailored mechanical properties) and find the predicted gapped edge and in-gap corner states. We corroborate our findings by comparing the mechanical properties of a topologically non-trivial system to samples in other phases that are predicted by the quadrupole theory. These topological corner states are an important stepping stone to the experimental realization of topologically protected wave guides in higher dimensions, and thereby open up a new path for the design of metamaterials.

  14. Engineering topological phases with a three-dimensional nodal-loop semimetal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Linhu; Yap, Han Hoe; Araújo, Miguel A. N.; Gong, Jiangbin

    2017-12-01

    A three-dimensional (3D) nodal-loop semimetal phase is exploited to engineer a number of intriguing phases featuring different peculiar topological surface states. In particular, by introducing various two-dimensional gap terms to a 3D tight-binding model of a nodal-loop semimetal, we obtain a rich variety of topological phases of great interest to ongoing theoretical and experimental studies, including a chiral insulator, degenerate-surface-loop insulator, and second-order topological insulator, as well as a Weyl semimetal with tunable Fermi arc profiles. The unique concept underlying our approach is to engineer topological surface states that inherit their dispersion relations from a gap term. The results provide one rather unified principle for the creation of novel topological phases and can guide the search for new topological materials. Two-terminal transport studies are also carried out to distinguish the engineered topological phases.

  15. Topology optimization of two-dimensional waveguides

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jakob Søndergaard; Sigmund, Ole

    2003-01-01

    In this work we use the method of topology optimization to design two-dimensional waveguides with low transmission loss.......In this work we use the method of topology optimization to design two-dimensional waveguides with low transmission loss....

  16. Interplay between topology and disorder in a two-dimensional semi-Dirac material

    OpenAIRE

    Sriluckshmy, P. V.; Saha, Kush; Moessner, Roderich

    2017-01-01

    We investigate the role of disorder in a two-dimensional semi-Dirac material characterized by a linear dispersion in one, and a parabolic dispersion in the orthogonal, direction. Using the self-consistent Born approximation, we show that disorder can drive a topological Lifshitz transition from an insulator to a semi-metal, as it generates a momentum independent off-diagonal contribution to the self-energy. Breaking time-reversal symmetry enriches the topological phase diagram with three dist...

  17. Quantum spin Hall effect in IV-VI topological crystalline insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safaei, S.; Galicka, M.; Kacman, P.; Buczko, R.

    2015-06-01

    We envision that the quantum spin Hall effect should be observed in (111)-oriented thin films of SnSe and SnTe topological crystalline insulators. Using a tight-binding approach supported by first-principles calculations of the band structures, we demonstrate that in these films the energy gaps in the two-dimensional band spectrum depend in an oscillatory fashion on the layer thickness. These results as well as the calculated topological invariant indexes and edge state spin polarizations show that for films ˜20-40 monolayers thick a two-dimensional topological insulator phase appears. In this range of thicknesses in both SnSe and SnTe, (111)-oriented films edge states with Dirac cones with opposite spin polarization in their two branches are obtained. While in the SnTe layers a single Dirac cone appears at the projection of the {\\boldsymbol{}}\\bar{Γ } point of the two-dimensional Brillouin zone, in the SnSe (111)-oriented layers three Dirac cones at {\\boldsymbol{}}\\bar{M} points projections are predicted.

  18. Topological Insulator Nanowires and Nanoribbons

    KAUST Repository

    Kong, Desheng; Randel, Jason C.; Peng, Hailin; Cha, Judy J.; Meister, Stefan; Lai, Keji; Chen, Yulin; Shen, Zhi-Xun; Manoharan, Hari C.; Cui, Yi

    2010-01-01

    Recent theoretical calculations and photoemission spectroscopy measurements on the bulk Bi2Se3 material show that it is a three-dimensional topological insulator possessing conductive surface states with nondegenerate spins, attractive

  19. Magnetoconductance in InN/GaN quantum wells in topological insulator phase

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bardyszewski, W.; Rodak, D.; Łepkowski, S. P.

    2017-04-01

    We present a theoretical study of the magnetic-field effect on the electronic properties of the two-dimensional, hypothetical topological insulator based on the InN/GaN quantum well system. Using the effective two-dimensional Hamiltonian, we have modelled magneto-transport in mesoscopic, symmetric samples of such materials. It turns out that, as in the case of the other two-dimensional topological insulators, the magnetoconductance in such samples is quantized due to the presence of helical edge states for magnetic fields below a certain critical value and for fairly small disorder strength. However, in our case the helical edge transport is much more prone to the disorder than, for example, in the case of topological insulators based on the HgTe/CdTe quantum wells. At low enough level of disorder and for the Fermi energy located in the energy gap of an infinite planar quantum well, we may expect an interesting phenomenon of non-monotonic dependence of the conductance on the magnetic field caused by the complicated interplay of couplings between the heavy hole, light hole and conduction subbands.

  20. Edge states of a three-dimensional topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deb, Oindrila; Sen, Diptiman; Soori, Abhiram

    2014-01-01

    We use the bulk Hamiltonian for a three-dimensional topological insulator such as Bi 2 Se 3 to study the states which appear on its various surfaces and along the edge between two surfaces. We use both analytical methods based on the surface Hamiltonians (which are derived from the bulk Hamiltonian) and numerical methods based on a lattice discretization of the bulk Hamiltonian. We find that the application of a potential barrier along an edge can give rise to states localized at that edge. These states have an unusual energy-momentum dispersion which can be controlled by applying a potential along the edge; in particular, the velocity of these states can be tuned to zero. The scattering and conductance across the edge is studied as a function of the edge potential. We show that a magnetic field in a particular direction can also give rise to zero energy states on certain edges. We point out possible experimental ways of looking for the various edge states. (paper)

  1. Particle-vortex duality in topological insulators and superconductors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murugan, Jeff [The Laboratory for Quantum Gravity & Strings, Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town,Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7700 (South Africa); School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Olden Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540 (United States); Nastase, Horatiu [Instituto de Física Teórica, UNESP-Universidade Estadual Paulista,R. Dr. Bento T. Ferraz 271, Bl. II, Sao Paulo 01140-070, SP (Brazil)

    2017-05-31

    We investigate the origins and implications of the duality between topological insulators and topological superconductors in three and four spacetime dimensions. In the latter, the duality transformation can be made at the level of the path integral in the standard way, while in three dimensions, it takes the form of “self-duality in odd dimensions'. In this sense, it is closely related to the particle-vortex duality of planar systems. In particular, we use this to elaborate on Son’s conjecture that a three dimensional Dirac fermion that can be thought of as the surface mode of a four dimensional topological insulator is dual to a composite fermion.

  2. Quantum spin/valley Hall effect and topological insulator phase transitions in silicene

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.

    2013-04-26

    We present a theoretical realization of quantum spin and quantum valley Hall effects in silicene. We show that combination of an electric field and intrinsic spin-orbit interaction leads to quantum phase transitions at the charge neutrality point. This phase transition from a two dimensional topological insulator to a trivial insulating state is accompanied by a quenching of the quantum spin Hall effect and the onset of a quantum valley Hall effect, providing a tool to experimentally tune the topological state of silicene. In contrast to graphene and other conventional topological insulators, the proposed effects in silicene are accessible to experiments.

  3. Quantum spin/valley Hall effect and topological insulator phase transitions in silicene

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.; Manchon, Aurelien; Sabeeh, K.; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2013-01-01

    We present a theoretical realization of quantum spin and quantum valley Hall effects in silicene. We show that combination of an electric field and intrinsic spin-orbit interaction leads to quantum phase transitions at the charge neutrality point. This phase transition from a two dimensional topological insulator to a trivial insulating state is accompanied by a quenching of the quantum spin Hall effect and the onset of a quantum valley Hall effect, providing a tool to experimentally tune the topological state of silicene. In contrast to graphene and other conventional topological insulators, the proposed effects in silicene are accessible to experiments.

  4. Interplay between topology and disorder in a two-dimensional semi-Dirac material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sriluckshmy, P. V.; Saha, Kush; Moessner, Roderich

    2018-01-01

    We investigate the role of disorder in a two-dimensional semi-Dirac material characterized by a linear dispersion in one direction and a parabolic dispersion in the orthogonal direction. Using the self-consistent Born approximation, we show that disorder can drive a topological Lifshitz transition from an insulator to a semimetal, as it generates a momentum-independent off-diagonal contribution to the self-energy. Breaking time-reversal symmetry enriches the topological phase diagram with three distinct regimes—single-node trivial, two-node trivial, and two-node Chern. We find that disorder can drive topological transitions from both the single- and two-node trivial to the two-node Chern regime. We further analyze these transitions in an appropriate tight-binding Hamiltonian of an anisotropic hexagonal lattice by calculating the real-space Chern number. Additionally, we compute the disorder-averaged entanglement entropy which signals both the topological Lifshitz and Chern transition as a function of the anisotropy of the hexagonal lattice. Finally, we discuss experimental aspects of our results.

  5. Magneto-photoconductivity of three dimensional topological insulator bismuth telluride

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Bingchen; Eginligil, Mustafa; Yu, Ting

    2018-03-01

    Magnetic field dependence of the photocurrent in a 3D topological insulator is studied. Among the 3D topological insulators bismuth telluride has unique hexagonal warping and spin texture which has been studied by photoemission, scanning tunnelling microscopy and transport. Here, we report on low temperature magneto-photoconductivity, up to 7 T, of two metallic bismuth telluride topological insulator samples with 68 and 110 nm thicknesses excited by 2.33 eV photon energy along the magnetic field perpendicular to the sample plane. At 4 K, both samples exhibit negative magneto-photoconductance below 4 T, which is as a result of weak-antilocalization of Dirac fermions similar to the previous observations in electrical transport. However the thinner sample shows positive magneto-photoconductance above 4 T. This can be attributed to the coupling of surface states. On the other hand, the thicker sample shows no positive magneto-photoconductance up to 7 T since there is only one surface state at play. By fitting the magneto-photoconductivity data of the thicker sample to the localization formula, we obtain weak antilocalization behaviour at 4, 10, and 20 K, as expected; however, weak localization behaviour at 30 K, which is a sign of surface states masked by bulk states. Also, from the temperature dependence of phase coherence length bulk carrier-carrier interaction is identified separately from the surface states. Therefore, it is possible to distinguish surface states by magneto-photoconductivity at low temperature, even in metallic samples.

  6. Magnetic gating of a 2D topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dang, Xiaoqian; Burton, J. D.; Tsymbal, Evgeny Y.

    2016-09-01

    Deterministic control of transport properties through manipulation of spin states is one of the paradigms of spintronics. Topological insulators offer a new playground for exploring interesting spin-dependent phenomena. Here, we consider a ferromagnetic ‘gate’ representing a magnetic adatom coupled to the topologically protected edge state of a two-dimensional (2D) topological insulator to modulate the electron transmission of the edge state. Due to the locked spin and wave vector of the transport electrons the transmission across the magnetic gate depends on the mutual orientation of the adatom magnetic moment and the current. If the Fermi energy matches an exchange-split bound state of the adatom, the electron transmission can be blocked due to the full back scattering of the incident wave. This antiresonance behavior is controlled by the adatom magnetic moment orientation so that the transmission of the edge state can be changed from 1 to 0. Expanding this consideration to a ferromagnetic gate representing a 1D chain of atoms shows a possibility to control the spin-dependent current of a strip of a 2D topological insulator by magnetization orientation of the ferromagnetic gate.

  7. Emergent Momentum-Space Skyrmion Texture on the Surface of Topological Insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohanta, Narayan; Kampf, Arno P.; Kopp, Thilo

    The quantum anomalous Hall effect has been theoretically predicted and experimentally verified in magnetic topological insulators. In addition, the surface states of these materials exhibit a hedgehog-like ``spin'' texture in momentum space. Here, we apply the previously formulated low-energy model for Bi2Se3, a parent compound for magnetic topological insulators, to a slab geometry in which an exchange field acts only within one of the surface layers. In this sample set up, the hedgehog transforms into a skyrmion texture beyond a critical exchange field. This critical field marks a transition between two topologically distinct phases. The topological phase transition takes place without energy gap closing at the Fermi level and leaves the transverse Hall conductance unchanged and quantized to e2 / 2 h . The momentum-space skyrmion texture persists in a finite field range. It may find its realization in hybrid heterostructures with an interface between a three-dimensional topological insulator and a ferromagnetic insulator. The work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through TRR 80.

  8. Topological aspect of disclinations in two-dimensional crystals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei-Kai, Qi; Tao, Zhu; Yong, Chen; Ji-Rong, Ren

    2009-01-01

    By using topological current theory, this paper studies the inner topological structure of disclinations during the melting of two-dimensional systems. From two-dimensional elasticity theory, it finds that there are topological currents for topological defects in homogeneous equation. The evolution of disclinations is studied, and the branch conditions for generating, annihilating, crossing, splitting and merging of disclinations are given. (the physics of elementary particles and fields)

  9. Edge states and integer quantum Hall effect in topological insulator thin films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Song-Bo; Lu, Hai-Zhou; Shen, Shun-Qing

    2015-08-25

    The integer quantum Hall effect is a topological state of quantum matter in two dimensions, and has recently been observed in three-dimensional topological insulator thin films. Here we study the Landau levels and edge states of surface Dirac fermions in topological insulators under strong magnetic field. We examine the formation of the quantum plateaux of the Hall conductance and find two different patterns, in one pattern the filling number covers all integers while only odd integers in the other. We focus on the quantum plateau closest to zero energy and demonstrate the breakdown of the quantum spin Hall effect resulting from structure inversion asymmetry. The phase diagrams of the quantum Hall states are presented as functions of magnetic field, gate voltage and chemical potential. This work establishes an intuitive picture of the edge states to understand the integer quantum Hall effect for Dirac electrons in topological insulator thin films.

  10. Topological insulators and C*-algebras: Theory and numerical practice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hastings, Matthew B.; Loring, Terry A.

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → We classify topological insulators using C* algebras. → We present new K-theory invariants. → We develop efficient numerical algorithms based on this technique. → We observe unexpected quantum phase transitions using our algorithm. - Abstract: We apply ideas from C*-algebra to the study of disordered topological insulators. We extract certain almost commuting matrices from the free Fermi Hamiltonian, describing band projected coordinate matrices. By considering topological obstructions to approximating these matrices by exactly commuting matrices, we are able to compute invariants quantifying different topological phases. We generalize previous two dimensional results to higher dimensions; we give a general expression for the topological invariants for arbitrary dimension and several symmetry classes, including chiral symmetry classes, and we present a detailed K-theory treatment of this expression for time reversal invariant three dimensional systems. We can use these results to show non-existence of localized Wannier functions for these systems. We use this approach to calculate the index for time-reversal invariant systems with spin-orbit scattering in three dimensions, on sizes up to 12 3 , averaging over a large number of samples. The results show an interesting separation between the localization transition and the point at which the average index (which can be viewed as an 'order parameter' for the topological insulator) begins to fluctuate from sample to sample, implying the existence of an unsuspected quantum phase transition separating two different delocalized phases in this system. One of the particular advantages of the C*-algebraic technique that we present is that it is significantly faster in practice than other methods of computing the index, allowing the study of larger systems. In this paper, we present a detailed discussion of numerical implementation of our method.

  11. Topological insulators

    CERN Document Server

    Franz, Marcel

    2013-01-01

    Topological Insulators, volume six in the Contemporary Concepts of Condensed Matter Series, describes the recent revolution in condensed matter physics that occurred in our understanding of crystalline solids. The book chronicles the work done worldwide that led to these discoveries and provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of the field. Starting in 2004, theorists began to explore the effect of topology on the physics of band insulators, a field previously considered well understood. However, the inclusion of topology brings key new elements into this old field. Whereas it was

  12. Exploring photonic topological insulator states in a circuit-QED lattice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jing-Ling; Shan, Chuan-Jia; Zhao, Feng

    2018-04-01

    We propose a simple protocol to explore the topological properties of photonic integer quantum Hall states in a one-dimensional circiut-QED lattice. By periodically modulating the on-site photonic energies in such a lattice, we demonstrate that this one-dimensional lattice model can be mapped into a two-dimensional integer quantum Hall insulator model. Based on the lattice-based cavity input-output theory, we show that both the photonic topological protected edge states and topological invariants can be clearly measured from the final steady state of the resonator lattice after taking into account cavity dissipation. Interestingly, we also find that the measurement signals associated with the above topological features are quite unambitious even in five coupled dissipative resonators. Our work opens up a new prospect of exploring topological states with a small-size dissipative quantum artificial lattice, which is quite attractive to the current quantum optics community.

  13. Topological Quantum Phase Transitions in Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Lattice Bilayers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhai, Xuechao; Jin, Guojun

    2013-09-01

    Since the successful fabrication of graphene, two-dimensional hexagonal lattice structures have become a research hotspot in condensed matter physics. In this short review, we theoretically focus on discussing the possible realization of a topological insulator (TI) phase in systems of graphene bilayer (GBL) and boron nitride bilayer (BNBL), whose band structures can be experimentally modulated by an interlayer bias voltage. Under the bias, a band gap can be opened in AB-stacked GBL but is still closed in AA-stacked GBL and significantly reduced in AA- or AB-stacked BNBL. In the presence of spin-orbit couplings (SOCs), further demonstrations indicate whether the topological quantum phase transition can be realized strongly depends on the stacking orders and symmetries of structures. It is observed that a bulk band gap can be first closed and then reopened when the Rashba SOC increases for gated AB-stacked GBL or when the intrinsic SOC increases for gated AA-stacked BNBL. This gives a distinct signal for a topological quantum phase transition, which is further characterized by a jump of the ℤ2 topological invariant. At fixed SOCs, the TI phase can be well switched by the interlayer bias and the phase boundaries are precisely determined. For AA-stacked GBL and AB-stacked BNBL, no strong TI phase exists, regardless of the strength of the intrinsic or Rashba SOCs. At last, a brief overview is given on other two-dimensional hexagonal materials including silicene and molybdenum disulfide bilayers.

  14. Weakly interacting topological insulators: Quantum criticality and the renormalization group approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wei

    2018-03-01

    For D -dimensional weakly interacting topological insulators in certain symmetry classes, the topological invariant can be calculated from a D - or (D +1 ) -dimensional integration over a certain curvature function that is expressed in terms of single-particle Green's functions. Based on the divergence of curvature function at the topological phase transition, we demonstrate how a renormalization group approach circumvents these integrations and reduces the necessary calculation to that for the Green's function alone, rendering a numerically efficient tool to identify topological phase transitions in a large parameter space. The method further unveils a number of statistical aspects related to the quantum criticality in weakly interacting topological insulators, including correlation function, critical exponents, and scaling laws, that can be used to characterize the topological phase transitions driven by either interacting or noninteracting parameters. We use 1D class BDI and 2D class A Dirac models with electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions to demonstrate these principles and find that interactions may change the critical exponents of the topological insulators.

  15. Topological Insulator Nanowires and Nanoribbons

    KAUST Repository

    Kong, Desheng

    2010-01-13

    Recent theoretical calculations and photoemission spectroscopy measurements on the bulk Bi2Se3 material show that it is a three-dimensional topological insulator possessing conductive surface states with nondegenerate spins, attractive for dissipationless electronics and spintronics applications. Nanoscale topological insulator materials have a large surface-to-volume ratio that can manifest the conductive surface states and are promising candidates for devices. Here we report the synthesis and characterization of high quality single crystalline Bi2Se5 nanomaterials with a variety of morphologies. The synthesis of Bi 2Se5 nanowires and nanoribbons employs Au-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism. Nanowires, which exhibit rough surfaces, are formed by stacking nanoplatelets along the axial direction of the wires. Nanoribbons are grown along [1120] direction with a rectangular cross-section and have diverse morphologies, including quasi-one-dimensional, sheetlike, zigzag and sawtooth shapes. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies on nanoribbons show atomically smooth surfaces with ∼ 1 nm step edges, indicating single Se-Bi-Se-Bi-Se quintuple layers. STM measurements reveal a honeycomb atomic lattice, suggesting that the STM tip couples not only to the top Se atomic layer, but also to the Bi atomic layer underneath, which opens up the possibility to investigate the contribution of different atomic orbitais to the topological surface states. Transport measurements of a single nanoribbon device (four terminal resistance and Hall resistance) show great promise for nanoribbons as candidates to study topological surface states. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

  16. Emerging Trends in Topological Insulators and Topological ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    /fulltext/reso/022/08/0787-0800. Keywords. Superconductor, quantum Hall effect, topological insulator, Majorana fermions. Abstract. Topological insulators are new class of materials which arecharacterized by a bulk band gap like ordinary ...

  17. Influence of magnetic disorders on quantum anomalous Hall effect in magnetic topological insulator films beyond the two-dimensional limit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xing, Yanxia; Xu, Fuming; Cheung, King Tai; Sun, Qing-feng; Wang, Jian; Yao, Yugui

    2018-04-01

    Quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) has been experimentally realized in magnetic topological insulator (MTI) thin films fabricated on magnetically doped {({{Bi}},{{Sb}})}2{{{Te}}}3. In an MTI thin film with the magnetic easy axis along the normal direction (z-direction), orientations of magnetic dopants are randomly distributed around the magnetic easy axis, acting as magnetic disorders. With the aid of the non-equilibrium Green's function and Landauer–Büttiker formalism, we numerically study the influence of magnetic disorders on QAHE in an MTI thin film modeled by a three-dimensional tight-binding Hamiltonian. It is found that, due to the existence of gapless side surface states, QAHE is protected even in the presence of magnetic disorders as long as the z-component of magnetic moment of all magnetic dopants are positive. More importantly, such magnetic disorders also suppress the dissipation of the chiral edge states and enhance the quality of QAHE in MTI films. In addition, the effect of magnetic disorders depends very much on the film thickness, and the optimal influence is achieved at certain thickness. These findings are new features for QAHE in three-dimensional systems, not present in two-dimensional systems.

  18. Topological Oxide Insulator in Cubic Perovskite Structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Hosub; Rhim, Sonny H.; Im, Jino; Freeman, Arthur J.

    2013-01-01

    The emergence of topologically protected conducting states with the chiral spin texture is the most prominent feature at the surface of topological insulators. On the application side, large band gap and high resistivity to distinguish surface from bulk degrees of freedom should be guaranteed for the full usage of the surface states. Here, we suggest that the oxide cubic perovskite YBiO3, more than just an oxide, defines itself as a new three-dimensional topological insulator exhibiting both a large bulk band gap and a high resistivity. Based on first-principles calculations varying the spin-orbit coupling strength, the non-trivial band topology of YBiO3 is investigated, where the spin-orbit coupling of the Bi 6p orbital plays a crucial role. Taking the exquisite synthesis techniques in oxide electronics into account, YBiO3 can also be used to provide various interface configurations hosting exotic topological phenomena combined with other quantum phases. PMID:23575973

  19. Single atom anisotropic magnetoresistance on a topological insulator surface

    KAUST Repository

    Narayan, Awadhesh

    2015-03-12

    © 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. We demonstrate single atom anisotropic magnetoresistance on the surface of a topological insulator, arising from the interplay between the helical spin-momentum-locked surface electronic structure and the hybridization of the magnetic adatom states. Our first-principles quantum transport calculations based on density functional theory for Mn on Bi2Se3 elucidate the underlying mechanism. We complement our findings with a two dimensional model valid for both single adatoms and magnetic clusters, which leads to a proposed device setup for experimental realization. Our results provide an explanation for the conflicting scattering experiments on magnetic adatoms on topological insulator surfaces, and reveal the real space spin texture around the magnetic impurity.

  20. Optical Manipulation and Detection of Emergent Phenomena in Topological Insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gedik, Nuh [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics

    2017-02-17

    The three-dimensional topological insulator (TI) is a new quantum phase of matter that exhibits quantum-Hall-like properties, even in the absence of an external magnetic field. These materials are insulators in the bulk but have a topologically protected conducting state at the surface. Charge carriers on these surface states behave like a two-dimensional gas of massless helical Dirac fermions for which the spin is ideally locked perpendicular to the momentum. The purpose of this project is to probe the unique collective electronic behaviors of topological insulators by developing and using advanced time resolved spectroscopic techniques with state-of-the-art temporal and spatial resolutions. The nature of these materials requires development of specialized ultrafast techniques (such as time resolved ARPES that also has spin detection capability, ultrafast electron diffraction that has sub-100 fs time resolution and THz magneto-spectroscopy). The focus of this report is to detail our achievements in terms of establishing state of the art experimental facilities. Below, we will describe achievements under this award for the entire duration of five years. We will focus on detailing the development of ultrafast technqiues here. The details of the science that was done with these technqiues can be found in the publications referencing this grant.

  1. Nanoscale electron transport at the surface of a topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, Sebastian; Bobisch, Christian A.

    2016-04-01

    The use of three-dimensional topological insulators for disruptive technologies critically depends on the dissipationless transport of electrons at the surface, because of the suppression of backscattering at defects. However, in real devices, defects are unavoidable and scattering at angles other than 180° is allowed for such materials. Until now, this has been studied indirectly by bulk measurements and by the analysis of the local density of states in close vicinity to defect sites. Here, we directly measure the nanoscale voltage drop caused by the scattering at step edges, which occurs if a lateral current flows along a three-dimensional topological insulator. The experiments were performed using scanning tunnelling potentiometry for thin Bi2Se3 films. So far, the observed voltage drops are small because of large contributions of the bulk to the electronic transport. However, for the use of ideal topological insulating thin films in devices, these contributions would play a significant role.

  2. Electrical and proximity-magnetic effects induced quantum Goos–Hänchen shift on the surface of topological insulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuai, Jian [School of Physics and Electronics, Yancheng Teachers College, Yancheng, 224002 Jiangsu (China); Da, H.X., E-mail: haixia8779@163.com [Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, 117576 (Singapore)

    2014-03-15

    We use scattering matrix method to theoretically demonstrate that the quantum Goos–Hänchen shift of the surface on three-dimensional topological insulator coated by ferromagnetic strips is sensitive to the magnitude of ferromagnetic magnetization. The dependence of quantum Goos–Hänchen shift on magnetization and gate bias is investigated by performing station phase approach. It is found that quantum Goos–Hänchen shift is positive and large under the magnetic barrier but may be positive as well as negative values under the gate bias. Furthermore, the position of quantum Goos–Hänchen peak can also be modulated by the combination of gate bias and proximity magnetic effects. Our results indicate that topological insulators are another candidates to support quantum Goos–Hänchen shift. - Highlights: • Quantum Goos–Hänchen shift of the surface on three-dimensional topological insulators is first investigated. • The magnetization affects quantum Goos–Hänchen shift of the surface on three-dimensional topological insulators. • Quantum Goos–Hänchen shift of the surface on three-dimensional topological insulators can be manipulated by the gate voltages.

  3. Dressed topological insulators. Rashba impurity, Kondo effect, magnetic impurities, proximity-induced superconductivity, hybrid systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Posske, Thore Hagen

    2016-01-01

    Topological insulators are electronic phases that insulate in the bulk and accommodate a peculiar, metallic edge liquid with a spin-dependent dispersion. They are regarded to be of considerable future use in spintronics and for quantum computation. Besides determining the intrinsic properties of this rather novel electronic phase, considering its combination with well-known physical systems can generate genuinely new physics. In this thesis, we report on such combinations including topological insulators. Specifically, we analyze an attached Rashba impurity, a Kondo dot in the two channel setup, magnetic impurities on the surface of a strong three-dimensional topological insulator, the proximity coupling of the latter system to a superconductor, and hybrid systems consisting of a topological insulator and a semimetal. Let us summarize our primary results. Firstly, we determine an analytical formula for the Kondo cloud and describe its possible detection in current correlations far away from the Kondo region. We thereby rely on and extend the method of refermionizable points. Furthermore, we find a class of gapless topological superconductors and semimetals, which accommodate edge states that behave similarly to the ones of globally gapped topological phases. Unexpectedly, we also find edge states that change their chirality when affected by sufficiently strong disorder. We regard the presented research helpful in future classifications and applications of systems containing topological insulators, of which we propose some examples.

  4. Dressed topological insulators. Rashba impurity, Kondo effect, magnetic impurities, proximity-induced superconductivity, hybrid systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Posske, Thore Hagen

    2016-02-26

    Topological insulators are electronic phases that insulate in the bulk and accommodate a peculiar, metallic edge liquid with a spin-dependent dispersion. They are regarded to be of considerable future use in spintronics and for quantum computation. Besides determining the intrinsic properties of this rather novel electronic phase, considering its combination with well-known physical systems can generate genuinely new physics. In this thesis, we report on such combinations including topological insulators. Specifically, we analyze an attached Rashba impurity, a Kondo dot in the two channel setup, magnetic impurities on the surface of a strong three-dimensional topological insulator, the proximity coupling of the latter system to a superconductor, and hybrid systems consisting of a topological insulator and a semimetal. Let us summarize our primary results. Firstly, we determine an analytical formula for the Kondo cloud and describe its possible detection in current correlations far away from the Kondo region. We thereby rely on and extend the method of refermionizable points. Furthermore, we find a class of gapless topological superconductors and semimetals, which accommodate edge states that behave similarly to the ones of globally gapped topological phases. Unexpectedly, we also find edge states that change their chirality when affected by sufficiently strong disorder. We regard the presented research helpful in future classifications and applications of systems containing topological insulators, of which we propose some examples.

  5. Dimensional crossover and cold-atom realization of gapless and semi-metallic Mott insulating phases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orth, Peter P.; Scheurer, Mathias; Rachel, Stephan

    2014-03-01

    We propose a realistic cold-atom setup which allows for a dimensional crossover from a two-dimensional quantum spin Hall insulating phase to a three-dimensional strong topological insulator phase by simply tuning the hopping between the layers. We further employ cluster slave-rotor mean-field theory to study the effect of additional Hubbard onsite interactions that give rise to various spin liquid-like phases such as gapless and semi-metallic Mott insulating states.

  6. Adiabatic photo-steering theory in topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inoue, Jun-ichi

    2014-12-01

    Feasible external control of material properties is a crucial issue in condensed matter physics. A new approach to achieving this aim, named adiabatic photo-steering, is reviewed. The core principle of this scheme is that several material constants are effectively turned into externally tunable variables by irradiation of monochromatic laser light. Two-dimensional topological insulators are selected as the optimal systems that exhibit a prominent change in their properties following the application of this method. Two specific examples of photo-steered quantum phenomena, which reflect topological aspects of the electronic systems at hand, are presented. One is the integer quantum Hall effect described by the Haldane model, and the other is the quantum spin Hall effect described by the Kane-Mele model. The topological quantities associated with these phenomena are the conventional Chern number and spin Chern number, respectively. A recent interesting idea, time-reversal symmetry breaking via a temporary periodic external stimulation, is also discussed.

  7. Adiabatic photo-steering theory in topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inoue, Jun-ichi

    2014-01-01

    Feasible external control of material properties is a crucial issue in condensed matter physics. A new approach to achieving this aim, named adiabatic photo-steering, is reviewed. The core principle of this scheme is that several material constants are effectively turned into externally tunable variables by irradiation of monochromatic laser light. Two-dimensional topological insulators are selected as the optimal systems that exhibit a prominent change in their properties following the application of this method. Two specific examples of photo-steered quantum phenomena, which reflect topological aspects of the electronic systems at hand, are presented. One is the integer quantum Hall effect described by the Haldane model, and the other is the quantum spin Hall effect described by the Kane–Mele model. The topological quantities associated with these phenomena are the conventional Chern number and spin Chern number, respectively. A recent interesting idea, time-reversal symmetry breaking via a temporary periodic external stimulation, is also discussed. (focus issue review)

  8. Nanometric holograms based on a topological insulator material.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yue, Zengji; Xue, Gaolei; Liu, Juan; Wang, Yongtian; Gu, Min

    2017-05-18

    Holography has extremely extensive applications in conventional optical instruments spanning optical microscopy and imaging, three-dimensional displays and metrology. To integrate holography with modern low-dimensional electronic devices, holograms need to be thinned to a nanometric scale. However, to keep a pronounced phase shift modulation, the thickness of holograms has been generally limited to the optical wavelength scale, which hinders their integration with ultrathin electronic devices. Here, we break this limit and achieve 60 nm holograms using a topological insulator material. We discover that nanometric topological insulator thin films act as an intrinsic optical resonant cavity due to the unequal refractive indices in their metallic surfaces and bulk. The resonant cavity leads to enhancement of phase shifts and thus the holographic imaging. Our work paves a way towards integrating holography with flat electronic devices for optical imaging, data storage and information security.

  9. Topology as fluid geometry two-dimensional spaces, volume 2

    CERN Document Server

    Cannon, James W

    2017-01-01

    This is the second of a three volume collection devoted to the geometry, topology, and curvature of 2-dimensional spaces. The collection provides a guided tour through a wide range of topics by one of the twentieth century's masters of geometric topology. The books are accessible to college and graduate students and provide perspective and insight to mathematicians at all levels who are interested in geometry and topology. The second volume deals with the topology of 2-dimensional spaces. The attempts encountered in Volume 1 to understand length and area in the plane lead to examples most easily described by the methods of topology (fluid geometry): finite curves of infinite length, 1-dimensional curves of positive area, space-filling curves (Peano curves), 0-dimensional subsets of the plane through which no straight path can pass (Cantor sets), etc. Volume 2 describes such sets. All of the standard topological results about 2-dimensional spaces are then proved, such as the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra (two...

  10. Spin-torque generation in topological insulator based heterostructures

    KAUST Repository

    Fischer, Mark H.

    2016-03-11

    Heterostructures utilizing topological insulators exhibit a remarkable spin-torque efficiency. However, the exact origin of the strong torque, in particular whether it stems from the spin-momentum locking of the topological surface states or rather from spin-Hall physics of the topological-insulator bulk, remains unclear. Here, we explore a mechanism of spin-torque generation purely based on the topological surface states. We consider topological-insulator-based bilayers involving ferromagnetic metal (TI/FM) and magnetically doped topological insulators (TI/mdTI), respectively. By ascribing the key theoretical differences between the two setups to location and number of active surface states, we describe both setups within the same framework of spin diffusion of the nonequilibrium spin density of the topological surface states. For the TI/FM bilayer, we find large spin-torque efficiencies of roughly equal magnitude for both in-plane and out-of-plane spin torques. For the TI/mdTI bilayer, we elucidate the dominance of the spin-transfer-like torque. However, we cannot explain the orders of magnitude enhancement reported. Nevertheless, our model gives an intuitive picture of spin-torque generation in topological-insulator-based bilayers and provides theoretical constraints on spin-torque generation due to topological surface states.

  11. Two-dimensional topological field theories coupled to four-dimensional BF theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montesinos, Merced; Perez, Alejandro

    2008-01-01

    Four-dimensional BF theory admits a natural coupling to extended sources supported on two-dimensional surfaces or string world sheets. Solutions of the theory are in one to one correspondence with solutions of Einstein equations with distributional matter (cosmic strings). We study new (topological field) theories that can be constructed by adding extra degrees of freedom to the two-dimensional world sheet. We show how two-dimensional Yang-Mills degrees of freedom can be added on the world sheet, producing in this way, an interactive (topological) theory of Yang-Mills fields with BF fields in four dimensions. We also show how a world sheet tetrad can be naturally added. As in the previous case the set of solutions of these theories are contained in the set of solutions of Einstein's equations if one allows distributional matter supported on two-dimensional surfaces. These theories are argued to be exactly quantizable. In the context of quantum gravity, one important motivation to study these models is to explore the possibility of constructing a background-independent quantum field theory where local degrees of freedom at low energies arise from global topological (world sheet) degrees of freedom at the fundamental level

  12. Two-dimensionally confined topological edge states in photonic crystals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barik, Sabyasachi; Miyake, Hirokazu; DeGottardi, Wade; Waks, Edo; Hafezi, Mohammad

    2016-01-01

    We present an all-dielectric photonic crystal structure that supports two-dimensionally confined helical topological edge states. The topological properties of the system are controlled by the crystal parameters. An interface between two regions of differing band topologies gives rise to topological edge states confined in a dielectric slab that propagate around sharp corners without backscattering. Three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain calculations show these edges to be confined in the out-of-plane direction by total internal reflection. Such nanoscale photonic crystal architectures could enable strong interactions between photonic edge states and quantum emitters. (paper)

  13. Superconductivity and ferromagnetism in topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Duming

    Topological insulators, a new state of matter discovered recently, have attracted great interest due to their novel properties. They are insulating inside the bulk, but conducting at the surface or edges. This peculiar behavior is characterized by an insulating bulk energy gap and gapless surface or edge states, which originate from strong spin-orbit coupling and time-reversal symmetry. The spin and momentum locked surface states not only provide a model system to study fundamental physics, but can also lead to applications in spintronics and dissipationless electronics. While topological insulators are interesting by themselves, more exotic behaviors are predicted when an energy gap is induced at the surface. This dissertation explores two types of surface state gap in topological insulators, a superconducting gap induced by proximity effect and a magnetic gap induced by chemical doping. The first three chapters provide introductory theory and experimental details of my research. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the theoretical background of topological insulators. Chapter 2 is dedicated to material synthesis principles and techniques. I will focus on two major synthesis methods: molecular beam epitaxy for the growth of Bi2Se3 thin films and chemical vapor deposition for the growth of Bi2Se3 nanoribbons and nanowires. Material characterization is discussed in Chapter 3. I will describe structural, morphological, magnetic, electrical, and electronic characterization techniques used to study topological insulators. Chapter 4 discusses the experiments on proximity-induced superconductivity in topological insulator (Bi2Se3) nanoribbons. This work is motivated by the search for the elusive Majorana fermions, which act as their own antiparticles. They were proposed by Ettore Majorara in 1937, but have remained undiscovered. Recently, Majorana's concept has been revived in condensed matter physics: a condensed matter analog of Majorana fermions is predicted to

  14. Quantum Hall effect on top and bottom surface states of topological insulator (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshimi, R; Tsukazaki, A; Kozuka, Y; Falson, J; Takahashi, K S; Checkelsky, J G; Nagaosa, N; Kawasaki, M; Tokura, Y

    2015-04-14

    The three-dimensional topological insulator is a novel state of matter characterized by two-dimensional metallic Dirac states on its surface. To verify the topological nature of the surface states, Bi-based chalcogenides such as Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3 and their combined/mixed compounds have been intensively studied. Here, we report the realization of the quantum Hall effect on the surface Dirac states in (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3 films. With electrostatic gate-tuning of the Fermi level in the bulk band gap under magnetic fields, the quantum Hall states with filling factor ±1 are resolved. Furthermore, the appearance of a quantum Hall plateau at filling factor zero reflects a pseudo-spin Hall insulator state when the Fermi level is tuned in between the energy levels of the non-degenerate top and bottom surface Dirac points. The observation of the quantum Hall effect in three-dimensional topological insulator films may pave a way toward topological insulator-based electronics.

  15. Spin-orbit torque-driven magnetization switching in 2D-topological insulator heterostructure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soleimani, Maryam; Jalili, Seifollah; Mahfouzi, Farzad; Kioussis, Nicholas

    2017-02-01

    Charge pumping and spin-orbit torque (SOT) are two reciprocal phenomena widely studied in ferromagnet (FM)/topological insulator (TI) heterostructures. However, the SOT and its corresponding switching phase diagram for a FM island in proximity to a two-dimensional topological insulator (2DTI) has not been explored yet. We have addressed these features, using the recently developed adiabatic expansion of time-dependent nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) in the presence of both precessing magnetization and bias voltage. We have calculated the angular and spatial dependence of different components of the SOT on the FM island. We determined the switching phase diagram of the FM for different orientations of the easy axis. The results can be used as a guideline for the future experiments on such systems.

  16. Quantum phase transitions of a disordered antiferromagnetic topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baireuther, P.; Edge, J. M.; Fulga, I. C.; Beenakker, C. W. J.; Tworzydło, J.

    2014-01-01

    We study the effect of electrostatic disorder on the conductivity of a three-dimensional antiferromagnetic insulator (a stack of quantum anomalous Hall layers with staggered magnetization). The phase diagram contains regions where the increase of disorder first causes the appearance of surface conduction (via a topological phase transition), followed by the appearance of bulk conduction (via a metal-insulator transition). The conducting surface states are stabilized by an effective time-reversal symmetry that is broken locally by the disorder but restored on long length scales. A simple self-consistent Born approximation reliably locates the boundaries of this so-called "statistical" topological phase.

  17. Floquet topological insulators for sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleury, Romain; Khanikaev, Alexander B.; Alù, Andrea

    2016-06-01

    The unique conduction properties of condensed matter systems with topological order have recently inspired a quest for the similar effects in classical wave phenomena. Acoustic topological insulators, in particular, hold the promise to revolutionize our ability to control sound, allowing for large isolation in the bulk and broadband one-way transport along their edges, with topological immunity against structural defects and disorder. So far, these fascinating properties have been obtained relying on moving media, which may introduce noise and absorption losses, hindering the practical potential of topological acoustics. Here we overcome these limitations by modulating in time the acoustic properties of a lattice of resonators, introducing the concept of acoustic Floquet topological insulators. We show that acoustic waves provide a fertile ground to apply the anomalous physics of Floquet topological insulators, and demonstrate their relevance for a wide range of acoustic applications, including broadband acoustic isolation and topologically protected, nonreciprocal acoustic emitters.

  18. Quantum and classical contributions to linear magnetoresistance in topological insulator thin films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, Sourabh; Gopal, R. K.; Sarkar, Jit; Mitra, Chiranjib

    2016-01-01

    Three dimensional topological insulators possess backscattering immune relativistic Dirac fermions on their surface due to nontrivial topology of the bulk band structure. Both metallic and bulk insulating topological insulators exhibit weak-antilocalization in the low magnetic field and linear like magnetoresistance in higher fields. We explore the linear magnetoresistance in bulk insulating topological insulator Bi 2-x Sb x Te 3-y Se y thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition technique. Thin films of Bi 2-x Sb x Te 3-y Se y were found to be insulating in nature, which conclusively establishes the origin of linear magnetoresistance from surface Dirac states. The films were thoroughly characterized for their crystallinity and composition and then subjected to transport measurements. We present a careful analysis taking into considerations all the existing models of linear magnetoresistance. We comprehend that the competition between classical and quantum contributions to magnetoresistance results in linear magnetoresistance in high fields. We observe that the cross-over field decreases with increasing temperature and the physical argument for this behavior is explained.

  19. Asymmetric Cherenkov acoustic reverse in topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smirnov, Sergey

    2014-09-01

    A general phenomenon of the Cherenkov radiation known in optics or acoustics of conventional materials is a formation of a forward cone of, respectively, photons or phonons emitted by a particle accelerated above the speed of light or sound in those materials. Here we suggest three-dimensional topological insulators as a unique platform to fundamentally explore and practically exploit the acoustic aspect of the Cherenkov effect. We demonstrate that by applying an in-plane magnetic field to a surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator one may suppress the forward Cherenkov sound up to zero at a critical magnetic field. Above the critical field the Cherenkov sound acquires pure backward nature with the polar distribution differing from the forward one generated below the critical field. Potential applications of this asymmetric Cherenkov reverse are in the design of low energy electronic devices such as acoustic ratchets or, in general, in low power design of electronic circuits with a magnetic field control of the direction and magnitude of the Cherenkov dissipation.

  20. Surfaces and slabs of fractional topological insulator heterostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahoo, Sharmistha; Sirota, Alexander; Cho, Gil Young; Teo, Jeffrey C. Y.

    2017-10-01

    Fractional topological insulators (FTIs) are electronic topological phases in (3 +1 ) dimensions enriched by time reversal (TR) and charge U (1 ) conservation symmetries. We focus on the simplest series of fermionic FTIs, whose bulk quasiparticles consist of deconfined partons that carry fractional electric charges in integral units of e*=e /(2 n +1 ) and couple to a discrete Z2 n +1 gauge theory. We propose massive symmetry preserving or breaking FTI surface states. Combining the long-ranged entangled bulk with these topological surface states, we deduce the novel topological order of quasi-(2 +1 ) -dimensional FTI slabs as well as their corresponding edge conformal field theories.

  1. Predicting a new phase (T'') of two-dimensional transition metal di-chalcogenides and strain-controlled topological phase transition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Fengxian; Gao, Guoping; Jiao, Yalong; Gu, Yuantong; Bilic, Ante; Zhang, Haijun; Chen, Zhongfang; Du, Aijun

    2016-02-01

    Single layered transition metal dichalcogenides have attracted tremendous research interest due to their structural phase diversities. By using a global optimization approach, we have discovered a new phase of transition metal dichalcogenides (labelled as T''), which is confirmed to be energetically, dynamically and kinetically stable by our first-principles calculations. The new T'' MoS2 phase exhibits an intrinsic quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect with a nontrivial gap as large as 0.42 eV, suggesting that a two-dimensional (2D) topological insulator can be achieved at room temperature. Most interestingly, there is a topological phase transition simply driven by a small tensile strain of up to 2%. Furthermore, all the known MX2 (M = Mo or W; X = S, Se or Te) monolayers in the new T'' phase unambiguously display similar band topologies and strain controlled topological phase transitions. Our findings greatly enrich the 2D families of transition metal dichalcogenides and offer a feasible way to control the electronic states of 2D topological insulators for the fabrication of high-speed spintronics devices.Single layered transition metal dichalcogenides have attracted tremendous research interest due to their structural phase diversities. By using a global optimization approach, we have discovered a new phase of transition metal dichalcogenides (labelled as T''), which is confirmed to be energetically, dynamically and kinetically stable by our first-principles calculations. The new T'' MoS2 phase exhibits an intrinsic quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect with a nontrivial gap as large as 0.42 eV, suggesting that a two-dimensional (2D) topological insulator can be achieved at room temperature. Most interestingly, there is a topological phase transition simply driven by a small tensile strain of up to 2%. Furthermore, all the known MX2 (M = Mo or W; X = S, Se or Te) monolayers in the new T'' phase unambiguously display similar band topologies and strain controlled topological

  2. Surface representations of two- and three-dimensional fluid flow topology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helman, James L.; Hesselink, Lambertus

    1990-01-01

    We discuss our work using critical point analysis to generate representations of the vector field topology of numerical flow data sets. Critical points are located and characterized in a two-dimensional domain, which may be either a two-dimensional flow field or the tangential velocity field near a three-dimensional body. Tangent curves are then integrated out along the principal directions of certain classes of critical points. The points and curves are linked to form a skeleton representing the two-dimensional vector field topology. When generated from the tangential velocity field near a body in a three-dimensional flow, the skeleton includes the critical points and curves which provide a basis for analyzing the three-dimensional structure of the flow separation. The points along the separation curves in the skeleton are used to start tangent curve integrations to generate surfaces representing the topology of the associated flow separations.

  3. Topological insulators in Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 with a single Dirac cone on the surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Haijun; Liu, Chao-Xing; Qi, Xiao-Liang; Dai, Xi; Fang, Zhong; Zhang, Shou-Cheng

    2009-06-01

    Topological insulators are new states of quantum matter in which surface states residing in the bulk insulating gap of such systems are protected by time-reversal symmetry. The study of such states was originally inspired by the robustness to scattering of conducting edge states in quantum Hall systems. Recently, such analogies have resulted in the discovery of topologically protected states in two-dimensional and three-dimensional band insulators with large spin-orbit coupling. So far, the only known three-dimensional topological insulator is BixSb1-x, which is an alloy with complex surface states. Here, we present the results of first-principles electronic structure calculations of the layered, stoichiometric crystals Sb2Te3, Sb2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3. Our calculations predict that Sb2Te3, Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 are topological insulators, whereas Sb2Se3 is not. These topological insulators have robust and simple surface states consisting of a single Dirac cone at the Γ point. In addition, we predict that Bi2Se3 has a topologically non-trivial energy gap of 0.3eV, which is larger than the energy scale of room temperature. We further present a simple and unified continuum model that captures the salient topological features of this class of materials.

  4. Topological insulators/superconductors: Potential future electronic materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hor, Y. S.

    2014-01-01

    A new material called topological insulator has been discovered and becomes one of the fastest growing field in condensed matter physics. Topological insulator is a new quantum phase of matter which has Dirac-like conductivity on its surface, but bulk insulator through its interior. It is considered a challenging problem for the surface transport measurements because of dominant internal conductance due to imperfections of the existing crystals of topological insulators. By a proper method, the internal bulk conduction can be suppressed in a topological insulator, and permit the detection of the surface currents which is necessary for future fault-tolerant quantum computing applications. Doped topological insulators have depicted a large variety of bulk physical properties ranging from magnetic to superconducting behaviors. By chemical doping, a TI can change into a bulk superconductor. Nb x Bi 2 Se 3 is shown to be a superconductor with T c ∼ 3.2 K, which could be a potential candidate for a topological superconductor

  5. Terahertz imaging of Landau levels in HgTe-based topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kadykov, Aleksandr M.; Krishtopenko, Sergey S. [Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR 5221 CNRS–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier (France); Institute for Physics of Microstructures, Russian Academy of Sciences, GSP-105, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Federation); Torres, Jeremie [Institut d' Electronique et des Systèmes (IES), UMR 5214 CNRS–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier (France); Consejo, Christophe; Ruffenach, Sandra; Marcinkiewicz, Michal; But, Dmytro; Teppe, Frederic, E-mail: frederic.teppe@umontpellier.fr [Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR 5221 CNRS–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier (France); Knap, Wojciech [Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR 5221 CNRS–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier (France); Institute of High Pressure Institute Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-447 Warsaw (Poland); Morozov, Sergey V.; Gavrilenko, Vladimir I. [Institute for Physics of Microstructures, Russian Academy of Sciences, GSP-105, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Federation); Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Federation); Mikhailov, Nikolai N. [Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Lavrent' eva 13, 630090 Novosibirsk (Russian Federation); Novosibirsk State University, 630090 Novosibirsk (Russian Federation); Dvoretsky, Sergey A. [Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Lavrent' eva 13, 630090 Novosibirsk (Russian Federation)

    2016-06-27

    We report on sub-terahertz photoconductivity under the magnetic field of a two dimensional topological insulator based on HgTe quantum wells. We perform a detailed visualization of Landau levels by means of photoconductivity measured at different gate voltages. This technique allows one to determine a critical magnetic field, corresponding to topological phase transition from inverted to normal band structure, even in almost gapless samples. The comparison with realistic calculations of Landau levels reveals a smaller role of bulk inversion asymmetry in HgTe quantum wells than it was assumed previously.

  6. Tunneling Planar Hall Effect in Topological Insulators: Spin Valves and Amplifiers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scharf, Benedikt; Matos-Abiague, Alex; Han, Jong E; Hankiewicz, Ewelina M; Žutić, Igor

    2016-10-14

    We investigate tunneling across a single ferromagnetic barrier on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator. In the presence of a magnetization component along the bias direction, a tunneling planar Hall conductance (TPHC), transverse to the applied bias, develops. Electrostatic control of the barrier enables a giant Hall angle, with the TPHC exceeding the longitudinal tunneling conductance. By changing the in-plane magnetization direction, it is possible to change the sign of both the longitudinal and transverse differential conductance without opening a gap in the topological surface state. The transport in a topological-insulator-ferromagnet junction can, thus, be drastically altered from a simple spin valve to an amplifier.

  7. Pb5Bi24Se41: A new member of the homologous series forming topological insulator heterostructures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Segawa, Kouji; Taskin, A.A.; Ando, Yoichi

    2015-01-01

    We have synthesized Pb 5 Bi 24 Se 41 , which is a new member of the (PbSe) 5 (Bi 2 Se 3 ) 3m homologous series with m=4. This series of compounds consist of alternating layers of the topological insulator Bi 2 Se 3 and the ordinary insulator PbSe. Such a naturally-formed heterostructure has recently been elucidated to give rise to peculiar quasi-two-dimensional topological states throughout the bulk, and the discovery of Pb 5 Bi 24 Se 41 expands the tunability of the topological states in this interesting homologous series. The trend in the resistivity anisotropy in this homologous series suggests an important role of hybridization of the topological states in the out-of-plane transport. - Graphical abstract: X-ray diffraction profiles taken on cleaved surfaces of single-crystal samples of the (PbSe) 5 (Bi 2 Se 3 ) 3m homologous series with various m values up to 4, which realizes topological insulator heterostructures. Schematic crystal structure of the new phase, m=4, is also shown. - Highlights: • We have synthesized a new member of the homologous series related to topological insulators. • In this compound, a heterostructure of topological and ordinary insulators naturally forms. • Resistivity anisotropy suggests an important role of hybridization of the topological states. • This compound expands the tunability of the topological states via chemical means

  8. arXiv Gauge Topological Nature of the Superconductor-Insulator Transition

    CERN Document Server

    Diamantini, M.C.; Lukyanchuk, I.; Vinokur, V.M.

    It has long been believed that, at absolute zero, electrons can form only one quantum coherent state, a superconductor. Yet, several two dimensional superconducting systems were found to harbor the superinsulating state with infinite resistance, a mirror image of superconductivity, and a metallic state often referred to as Bose metal, characterized by finite longitudinal and vanishing Hall resistances. The nature of these novel and mysterious quantum coherent states is the subject of intense study.Here, we propose a topological gauge description of the superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) that enables us to identify the underlying mechanism of superinsulation as Polyakov's linear confinement of Cooper pairs via instantons. We find a criterion defining conditions for either a direct SIT or for the SIT via the intermediate Bose metal and demonstrate that this Bose metal phase is a Mott topological insulator in which the Cooper pair-vortex liquid is frozen by Aharonov-Bohm interactions.

  9. Effects of nuclear spins on the transport properties of the edge of two-dimensional topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Chen-Hsuan; Stano, Peter; Klinovaja, Jelena; Loss, Daniel

    2018-03-01

    The electrons in the edge channels of two-dimensional topological insulators can be described as a helical Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. They couple to nuclear spins embedded in the host materials through the hyperfine interaction, and are therefore subject to elastic spin-flip backscattering on the nuclear spins. We investigate the nuclear-spin-induced edge resistance due to such backscattering by performing a renormalization-group analysis. Remarkably, the effect of this backscattering mechanism is stronger in a helical edge than in nonhelical channels, which are believed to be present in the trivial regime of InAs/GaSb quantum wells. In a system with sufficiently long edges, the disordered nuclear spins lead to an edge resistance which grows exponentially upon lowering the temperature. On the other hand, electrons from the edge states mediate an anisotropic Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida nuclear spin-spin interaction, which induces a spiral nuclear spin order below the transition temperature. We discuss the features of the spiral order, as well as its experimental signatures. In the ordered phase, we identify two backscattering mechanisms, due to charge impurities and magnons. The backscattering on charge impurities is allowed by the internally generated magnetic field, and leads to an Anderson-type localization of the edge states. The magnon-mediated backscattering results in a power-law resistance, which is suppressed at zero temperature. Overall, we find that in a sufficiently long edge the nuclear spins, whether ordered or not, suppress the edge conductance to zero as the temperature approaches zero.

  10. Orbital selective spin-texture in a topological insulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Singh, Bahadur, E-mail: bahadursingh24@gmail.com; Prasad, R. [Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016 (India)

    2015-05-15

    Three-dimensional topological insulators support a metallic non-trivial surface state with unique spin texture, where spin and momentum are locked perpendicular to each other. In this work, we investigate the orbital selective spin-texture associated with the topological surface states in Sb2Te{sub 3}, using the first principles calculations. Sb2Te{sub 3} is a strong topological insulator with a p-p type bulk band inversion at the Γ-point and supports a single topological metallic surface state with upper (lower) Dirac-cone has left (right) handed spin-texture. Here, we show that the topological surface state has an additional locking between the spin and orbitals, leading to an orbital selective spin-texture. The out-of-plane orbitals (p{sub z} orbitals) have an isotropic orbital texture for both the Dirac cones with an associated left and right handed spin-texture for the upper and lower Dirac cones, respectively. In contrast, the in-planar orbital texture (p{sub x} and p{sub y} projections) is tangential for the upper Dirac-cone and is radial for the lower Dirac-cone surface state. The dominant in-planar orbital texture in both the Dirac cones lead to a right handed orbital-selective spin-texture.

  11. Unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance in topological insulator/ferromagnetic layer heterostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kally, James; Lv, Yang; Zhang, Delin; Lee, Joon Sue; Samarth, Nitin; Wang, Jian-Ping; Department of Electrical; Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Collaboration; Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University Collaboration

    The surface states of topological insulators offer a potentially very efficient way to generate spins and spin-orbit torques to magnetic moments in proximity. The switching by spin-orbit torque itself only requires two terminals so that a charge current can be applied. However, a third terminal with additional magnetic tunneling junction structure is needed to sense the magnetization state if such devices are used for memory and logic applications. The recent discovery of unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance in heavy metal/ferromagnetic and topological insulator/magnetically doped topological insulator systems offers an alternative way to sense magnetization while still keeping the number of terminals to minimal two. The unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance in topological insulator/strong ferromagnetic layer heterostructure system has yet not been reported. In this work, we report our experimental observations of such magnetoresistance. It is found to be present and comparable to the best result of the previous reported Ta/Co systems in terms of magnetoresistance per current density per total resistance.

  12. Two-Dimensional Dirac Fermions in a Topological Insulator: Transport in the Quantum Limit

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Analytis, J.G.; /SIMES, Stanford /SLAC /Stanford U., Geballe Lab /Stanford U., Appl. Phys. Dept.; McDonald, R.D.; /Los Alamos; Riggs, S.C.; /Natl. High Mag. Field Lab.; Chu, J.-H.; /SIMES, Stanford /SLAC /Stanford U., Geballe Lab /Stanford U., Appl. Phys. Dept.; Boebinger, G.S.; /Natl. High Mag. Field Lab.; Fisher, I.R.; /SIMES, Stanford /SLAC /Stanford U., Geballe Lab /Stanford U., Appl. Phys. Dept.

    2011-08-12

    Pulsed magnetic fields of up to 55T are used to investigate the transport properties of the topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} in the extreme quantum limit. For samples with a bulk carrier density of n = 2.9 x 10{sup 16} cm{sup -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 {nu} = 1 Landau level attained by a field of {approx} 35T. These measurements reveal the presence of additional oscillations which occur at fields corresponding to simple rational fractions of the integer Landau indices.

  13. Surface conduction of topological Dirac electrons in bulk insulating Bi2Se3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuhrer, Michael

    2013-03-01

    The three dimensional strong topological insulator (STI) is a new phase of electronic matter which is distinct from ordinary insulators in that it supports on its surface a conducting two-dimensional surface state whose existence is guaranteed by topology. I will discuss experiments on the STI material Bi2Se3, which has a bulk bandgap of 300 meV, much greater than room temperature, and a single topological surface state with a massless Dirac dispersion. Field effect transistors consisting of thin (3-20 nm) Bi2Se3 are fabricated from mechanically exfoliated from single crystals, and electrochemical and/or chemical gating methods are used to move the Fermi energy into the bulk bandgap, revealing the ambipolar gapless nature of transport in the Bi2Se3 surface states. The minimum conductivity of the topological surface state is understood within the self-consistent theory of Dirac electrons in the presence of charged impurities. The intrinsic finite-temperature resistivity of the topological surface state due to electron-acoustic phonon scattering is measured to be ~60 times larger than that of graphene largely due to the smaller Fermi and sound velocities in Bi2Se3, which will have implications for topological electronic devices operating at room temperature. As samples are made thinner, coherent coupling of the top and bottom topological surfaces is observed through the magnitude of the weak anti-localization correction to the conductivity, and, in the thinnest Bi2Se3 samples (~ 3 nm), in thermally-activated conductivity reflecting the opening of a bandgap.

  14. Topological insulators, topological superconductors and Weyl fermion semimetals: discoveries, perspectives and outlooks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasan, M Zahid; Xu, Su-Yang; Bian, Guang

    2015-01-01

    Unlike string theory, topological physics in lower dimensional condensed matter systems is an experimental reality since the bulk-boundary correspondence can be probed experimentally in lower dimensions. In addition, recent experimental discoveries of non-quantum-Hall-like topological insulators, topological superconductors, Weyl semimetals and other topological states of matter also signal a clear departure from the quantum-Hall-effect-like transport paradigm that has dominated the field since the 1980s. It is these new forms of matter that enabled realizations of topological-Dirac, Weyl cones, helical-Cooper-pairs, Fermi-arc-quasiparticles and other emergent phenomena in fine-tuned photoemission (ARPES) experiments since ARPES experiments directly allow the study of bulk-boundary (topological) correspondence. In this proceeding we provide a brief overview of the key experiments and discuss our perspectives regarding the new research frontiers enabled by these experiments. Taken collectively, we argue in favor of the emergence of ‘topological-condensed-matter-physics’ in laboratory experiments for which a variety of theoretical concepts over the last 80 years paved the way. (review)

  15. Chiral topological excitons in a Chern band insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ke; Shindou, Ryuichi

    2017-10-01

    A family of semiconductors called Chern band insulators are shown to host exciton bands with nonzero topological Chern integers and chiral exciton edge modes. Using a prototypical two-band Chern insulator model, we calculate a cross-correlation function to obtain the exciton bands and their Chern integers. The lowest exciton band acquires Chern integers such as ±1 and ±2 in the electronic Chern insulator phase. The nontrivial topology can be experimentally observed both by a nonlocal optoelectronic response of exciton edge modes and by a phase shift in the cross-correlation response due to the bulk mode. Our result suggests that magnetically doped HgTe, InAs/GaSb quantum wells, and (Bi,Sb)2Te3 thin films are promising candidates for a platform of topological excitonics.

  16. Disorder Effects in Charge Transport and Spin Response of Topological Insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Lukas Zhonghua

    Topological insulators are a class of solids in which the non-trivial inverted bulk band structure gives rise to metallic surface states that are robust against impurity backscattering. First principle calculations predicted Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3 and Bi2Se3 to be three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators with a single Dirac cone on the surface. The topological surface states were subsequently observed by angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The investigations of charge transport through topological surfaces of 3D topological insulators, however, have faced a major challenge due to large charge carrier densities in the bulk donated by randomly distributed defects such as vacancies and antisites. This bulk disorder intermixes surface and bulk conduction channels, thereby complicating access to the low-energy (Dirac point) charge transport or magnetic response and resulting in the relatively low measured carrier mobilities. Moreover, charge inhomogeneity arising from bulk disorder can result in pronounced nanoscale spatial fluctuations of energy on the surface, leading to the formation of surface `puddles' of different carrier types. Great efforts have been made to combat the undesirable effects of disorder in 3D topological insulators and to reduce bulk carriers through chemical doping, nanostructure fabrication, and electric gating. In this work we have developed a new way to reduce bulk carrier densities using high-energy electron irradiation, thereby allowing us access to the topological surface quantum channels. We also found that disorder in 3D topological insulators can be beneficial. It can play an important part in enabling detection of unusual magnetic response from Dirac fermions and in uncovering new excitations, namely surface superconductivity in Dirac `puddles'. In Chapter 3 we show how by using differential magnetometry we could probe spin rotation in the 3D topological material family (Bi2Se 3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3

  17. Topological phononic insulator with robust pseudospin-dependent transport

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Bai-Zhan; Liu, Ting-Ting; Huang, Guo-Liang; Dai, Hong-Qing; Jiao, Jun-Rui; Zang, Xian-Guo; Yu, De-Jie; Zheng, Sheng-Jie; Liu, Jian

    2017-09-01

    Topological phononic states, which facilitate unique acoustic transport around defects and disorders, have significantly revolutionized our scientific cognition of acoustic systems. Here, by introducing a zone folding mechanism, we realize the topological phase transition in a double Dirac cone of the rotatable triangular phononic crystal with C3 v symmetry. We then investigate the distinct topological edge states on two types of interfaces of our phononic insulators. The first one is a zigzag interface which simultaneously possesses a symmetric mode and an antisymmetric mode. Hybridization of the two modes leads to a robust pseudospin-dependent one-way propagation. The second one is a linear interface with a symmetric mode or an antisymmetric mode. The type of mode is dependent on the topological phase transition of the phononic insulators. Based on the rotatability of triangular phononic crystals, we consider several complicated contours defined by the topological zigzag interfaces. Along these contours, the acoustic waves can unimpededly transmit without backscattering. Our research develops a route for the exploration of the topological phenomena in experiments and provides an excellent framework for freely steering the acoustic backscattering-immune propagation within topological phononic structures.

  18. Topological Insulators and Superconductors for Innovative Devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-03-20

    Final 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 20120321 - 20150320 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Topological insulators and superconductors for innovative...locking, which hold promise for various innovative devices. Similarly, topological superconductors are associated with exotic surface states, which...298 (Rev. 8/98) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18 Final Report Title: Topological Insulators and Superconductors for Innovative Devices

  19. Quantum magnetotransport for the surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators in the presence of a Zeeman field

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, Muhammad; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2013-01-01

    We show that the surface states of magnetic topological insulators realize an activated behavior and Shubnikov de Haas oscillations. Applying an external magnetic field perpendicular to the surface of the topological insulator in the presence

  20. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in bulk ZrT e5 single crystals: Evidence for a weak topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Yang-Yang; Zhang, Bin-Bin; Li, Xiao; Zhang, Kai-Wen; Li, Xiang-Bing; Yao, Shu-Hua; Chen, Y. B.; Zhou, Jian; Zhang, Shan-Tao; Lu, Ming-Hui; Li, Shao-Chun; Chen, Yan-Feng

    2018-03-01

    The study of ZrT e5 crystals is revived because of the recent theoretical prediction of topological phase in bulk ZrT e5 . However, the current conclusions for the topological character of bulk ZrT e5 are quite contradictory. To resolve this puzzle, we here identify the Berry phase on both b - and c planes of high-quality ZrT e5 crystals by the Shubnikov-de-Hass (SdH) oscillation under tilted magnetic field at 2 K. The angle-dependent SdH oscillation frequency, both on b - and c planes of ZrT e5 , demonstrates the two-dimensional feature. However, phase analysis of SdH verifies that a nontrivial π-Berry phase is observed in the c -plane SdH oscillation, but not in the b -plane one. Compared to bulk Fermi surface predicted by the first-principle calculation, the two-dimensional-like behavior of SdH oscillation measured at b plane comes from the bulk electron. Based on these analyses, it is suggested that bulk ZrT e5 at low temperature (˜2 K) belongs to a weak topological insulator, rather than Dirac semimetal or strong topological insulator as reported previously.

  1. The topological Anderson insulator phase in the Kane-Mele model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orth, Christoph P.; Sekera, Tibor; Bruder, Christoph; Schmidt, Thomas L.

    2016-04-01

    It has been proposed that adding disorder to a topologically trivial mercury telluride/cadmium telluride (HgTe/CdTe) quantum well can induce a transition to a topologically nontrivial state. The resulting state was termed topological Anderson insulator and was found in computer simulations of the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model. Here, we show that the topological Anderson insulator is a more universal phenomenon and also appears in the Kane-Mele model of topological insulators on a honeycomb lattice. We numerically investigate the interplay of the relevant parameters, and establish the parameter range in which the topological Anderson insulator exists. A staggered sublattice potential turns out to be a necessary condition for the transition to the topological Anderson insulator. For weak enough disorder, a calculation based on the lowest-order Born approximation reproduces quantitatively the numerical data. Our results thus considerably increase the number of candidate materials for the topological Anderson insulator phase.

  2. Asymmetric d-wave superconducting topological insulator in proximity with a magnetic order

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khezerlou, M.; Goudarzi, H.; Asgarifar, S.

    2018-02-01

    In the framework of the Dirac-Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism, we investigate the transport properties in the surface of a 3-dimensional topological insulator-based hybrid structure, where the ferromagnetic and superconducting orders are simultaneously induced to the surface states via the proximity effect. The superconductor gap is taken to be spin-singlet d-wave symmetry. The asymmetric role of this gap respect to the electron-hole exchange, in one hand, affects the topological insulator superconducting binding excitations and, on the other hand, gives rise to forming distinct Majorana bound states at the ferromagnet/superconductor interface. We propose a topological insulator N/F/FS junction and proceed to clarify the role of d-wave asymmetry pairing in the resulting subgap and overgap tunneling conductance. The perpendicular component of magnetizations in F and FS regions can be at the parallel and antiparallel configurations leading to capture the experimentally important magnetoresistance (MR) of junction. It is found that the zero-bias conductance is strongly sensitive to the magnitude of magnetization in FS region mzfs and orbital rotated angle α of superconductor gap. The negative MR only occurs in zero orbital rotated angle. This result can pave the way to distinguish the unconventional superconducting state in the relating topological insulator hybrid structures.

  3. Topological insulators fundamentals and perspectives

    CERN Document Server

    Ortmann, Frank; Valenzuela, Sergio O

    2015-01-01

    There are only few discoveries and new technologies in physical sciences that have the potential to dramatically alter and revolutionize our electronic world. Topological insulators are one of them. The present book for the first time provides a full overview and in-depth knowledge about this hot topic in materials science and condensed matter physics. Techniques such as angle-resolved photoemission spectrometry (ARPES), advanced solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) or scanning-tunnel microscopy (STM) together with key principles of topological insulators such as spin-locked electronic

  4. Infrared circular photogalvanic effect in topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Siyuan

    2018-04-01

    Topological insulators have attracted a lot of attention in recent years due to its unique phenomena. Circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) is one of the important phenomena in topological insulators. Bi2Se3, as one of the 3D topological insulators, consist of a single Dirac cone at the Γ point in k-space [1], corresponding to the surface states. Controlled by the Berry curvature of the surface band, the dominant photo response due to the interband transition is helicity dependent [2]. In addition, due to the spin-momentum locking in topological insulators' surface, the sign of spin-angular-momentum of obliquely incident light and photo currents are locked together. On the other hand, Bi2Se3 consists of quintuple layers which make it possible to be exfoliated and transferred based on graphene fabrication. In this paper, Bi2Se3 devices were fabricated and Ohm contact was achieved. We experimentally demonstrated the CPGE in Bi2Se3 using 1550nm incident laser.

  5. Flux-Fusion Anomaly Test and Bosonic Topological Crystalline Insulators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Hermele

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available We introduce a method, dubbed the flux-fusion anomaly test, to detect certain anomalous symmetry fractionalization patterns in two-dimensional symmetry-enriched topological (SET phases. We focus on bosonic systems with Z_{2} topological order and a symmetry group of the form G=U(1⋊G^{′}, where G^{′} is an arbitrary group that may include spatial symmetries and/or time reversal. The anomalous fractionalization patterns we identify cannot occur in strictly d=2 systems but can occur at surfaces of d=3 symmetry-protected topological (SPT phases. This observation leads to examples of d=3 bosonic topological crystalline insulators (TCIs that, to our knowledge, have not previously been identified. In some cases, these d=3 bosonic TCIs can have an anomalous superfluid at the surface, which is characterized by nontrivial projective transformations of the superfluid vortices under symmetry. The basic idea of our anomaly test is to introduce fluxes of the U(1 symmetry and to show that some fractionalization patterns cannot be extended to a consistent action of G^{′} symmetry on the fluxes. For some anomalies, this can be described in terms of dimensional reduction to d=1 SPT phases. We apply our method to several different symmetry groups with nontrivial anomalies, including G=U(1×Z_{2}^{T} and G=U(1×Z_{2}^{P}, where Z_{2}^{T} and Z_{2}^{P} are time-reversal and d=2 reflection symmetry, respectively.

  6. Phase coherent transport in hybrid superconductor-topological insulator devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finck, Aaron

    2015-03-01

    Heterostructures of superconductors and topological insulators are predicted to host unusual zero energy bound states known as Majorana fermions, which can robustly store and process quantum information. Here, I will discuss our studies of such heterostructures through phase-coherent transport, which can act as a unique probe of Majorana fermions. We have extensively explored topological insulator Josephson junctions through SQUID and single-junction diffraction patterns, whose unusual behavior give evidence for low-energy Andreev bound states. In topological insulator devices with closely spaced normal and superconducting leads, we observe prominent Fabry-Perot oscillations, signifying gate-tunable, quasi-ballistic transport that can elegantly interact with Andreev reflection. Superconducting disks deposited on the surface of a topological insulator generate Aharonov-Bohm-like oscillations, giving evidence for unusual states lying near the interface between the superconductor and topological insulator surface. Our results point the way towards sophisticated interferometers that can detect and read out the state of Majorana fermions in topological systems. This work was done in collaboration with Cihan Kurter, Yew San Hor, and Dale Van Harlingen. We acknowledge funding from Microsoft Project Q.

  7. Topological phases of topological-insulator thin films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asmar, Mahmoud M.; Sheehy, Daniel E.; Vekhter, Ilya

    2018-02-01

    We study the properties of a thin film of topological insulator material. We treat the coupling between helical states at opposite surfaces of the film in the properly-adapted tunneling approximation, and show that the tunneling matrix element oscillates as a function of both the film thickness and the momentum in the plane of the film for Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 . As a result, while the magnitude of the matrix element at the center of the surface Brillouin zone gives the gap in the energy spectrum, the sign of the matrix element uniquely determines the topological properties of the film, as demonstrated by explicitly computing the pseudospin textures and the Chern number. We find a sequence of transitions between topological and nontopological phases, separated by semimetallic states, as the film thickness varies. In the topological phase, the edge states of the film always exist but only carry a spin current if the edge potentials break particle-hole symmetry. The edge states decay very slowly away from the boundary in Bi2Se3 , making Bi2Te3 , where this scale is shorter, a more promising candidate for the observation of these states. Our results hold for free-standing films as well as heterostructures with large-gap insulators.

  8. Converting topological insulators into topological metals within the tetradymite family

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, K.-W.; Aryal, N.; Dai, J.; Graf, D.; Zhang, S.; Das, S.; Le Fèvre, P.; Bertran, F.; Yukawa, R.; Horiba, K.; Kumigashira, H.; Frantzeskakis, E.; Fortuna, F.; Balicas, L.; Santander-Syro, A. F.; Manousakis, E.; Baumbach, R. E.

    2018-04-01

    We report the electronic band structures and concomitant Fermi surfaces for a family of exfoliable tetradymite compounds with the formula T2C h2P n , obtained as a modification to the well-known topological insulator binaries Bi2(Se,Te ) 3 by replacing one chalcogen (C h ) with a pnictogen (P n ) and Bi with the tetravalent transition metals T = Ti, Zr, or Hf. This imbalances the electron count and results in layered metals characterized by relatively high carrier mobilities and bulk two-dimensional Fermi surfaces whose topography is well-described by first-principles calculations. Intriguingly, slab electronic structure calculations predict Dirac-like surface states. In contrast to Bi2Se3 , where the surface Dirac bands are at the Γ point, for (Zr,Hf ) 2Te2 (P,As) there are Dirac cones of strong topological character around both the Γ ¯ and M ¯ points, which are above and below the Fermi energy, respectively. For Ti2Te2P , the surface state is predicted to exist only around the M ¯ point. In agreement with these predictions, the surface states that are located below the Fermi energy are observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements, revealing that they coexist with the bulk metallic state. Thus this family of materials provides a foundation upon which to develop novel phenomena that exploit both the bulk and surface states (e.g., topological superconductivity).

  9. Accidental degeneracy in photonic bands and topological phase transitions in two-dimensional core-shell dielectric photonic crystals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Lin; Wang, Hai-Xiao; Xu, Ya-Dong; Chen, Huan-Yang; Jiang, Jian-Hua

    2016-08-08

    A simple core-shell two-dimensional photonic crystal is studied where the triangular lattice symmetry and the C6 point group symmetry give rich physics in accidental touching points of photonic bands. We systematically evaluate different types of accidental nodal points at the Brillouin zone center for transverse-magnetic harmonic modes when the geometry and permittivity of the core-shell material are continuously tuned. The accidental nodal points can have different dispersions and topological properties (i.e., Berry phases). These accidental nodal points can be the critical states lying between a topological phase and a normal phase of the photonic crystal. They are thus very important for the study of topological photonic states. We show that, without breaking time-reversal symmetry, by tuning the geometry of the core-shell material, a phase transition into the photonic quantum spin Hall insulator can be achieved. Here the "spin" is defined as the orbital angular momentum of a photon. We study the topological phase transition as well as the properties of the edge and bulk states and their application potentials in optics.

  10. Surface plasmon on topological insulator/dielectric interface enhanced ZnO ultraviolet photoluminescence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhi-Min Liao

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available It has recently been predicted that the surface plasmons are allowed to exist on the interface between a topological insulator and vacuum. Surface plasmons can be employed to enhance the optical emission from various illuminants. Here, we study the photoluminescence properties of the ZnO/Bi2Te3 hybrid structures. Thin flakes of Bi2Te3, a typical three-dimensional topological insulator, were prepared on ZnO crystal surface by mechanical exfoliation method. The ultraviolet emission from ZnO was found to be enhanced by the Bi2Te3 thin flakes, which was attributed to the surface plasmon – photon coupling at the Bi2Te3/ZnO interface.

  11. Search for Majorana fermions in topological superconductors.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pan, Wei [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Shi, Xiaoyan [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Hawkins, Samuel D. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Klem, John Frederick [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2014-10-01

    The goal of this project is to search for Majorana fermions (a new quantum particle) in a topological superconductor (a new quantum matter achieved in a topological insulator proximitized by an s-wave superconductor). Majorana fermions (MFs) are electron-like particles that are their own anti-particles. MFs are shown to obey non-Abelian statistics and, thus, can be harnessed to make a fault-resistant topological quantum computer. With the arrival of topological insulators, novel schemes to create MFs have been proposed in hybrid systems by combining a topological insulator with a conventional superconductor. In this LDRD project, we will follow the theoretical proposals to search for MFs in one-dimensional (1D) topological superconductors. 1D topological superconductor will be created inside of a quantum point contact (with the metal pinch-off gates made of conventional s-wave superconductors such as niobium) in a two-dimensional topological insulator (such as inverted type-II InAs/GaSb heterostructure).

  12. Topologically protected bound states in one-dimensional Floquet acoustic waveguide systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Yu-Gui; Geng, Zhi-Guo; Zhu, Xue-Feng

    2018-03-01

    Topological manipulation of sound has recently been a hot spot in acoustics due to the fascinating property of defect immune transport. To the best of our knowledge, the studies on one-dimensional (1D) topological acoustic systems hitherto mainly focus on the case of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. Here, we show that topologically protected bound states may also exist in 1D periodically modulated acoustic waveguide systems, viz., 1D Floquet topological insulators. The results show that tuning the coupling strength in a waveguide lattice could trigger topological phase transition, which gives rise to topologically protected interface states as we put together two waveguide lattices featured with different topological phases or winding numbers. However, for the combined lattice, input at the waveguides other than the interfacial ones will excite bulk states. We have further verified the robustness of interface bound states against the variation of coupling strengths between the two distinct waveguide lattices. This work extends the scope of topological acoustics and may promote potential applications for acoustic devices with topological functionalities.

  13. Topological states in a two-dimensional metal alloy in Si surface: BiAg/Si(111)-4 ×4 surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaoming; Cui, Bin; Zhao, Mingwen; Liu, Feng

    2018-02-01

    A bridging topological state with a conventional semiconductor platform offers an attractive route towards future spintronics and quantum device applications. Here, based on first-principles and tight-binding calculations, we demonstrate the existence of topological states hosted by a two-dimensional (2D) metal alloy in a Si surface, the BiAg/Si(111)-4 ×4 surface, which has already been synthesized experimentally. It exhibits a topological insulating state with an energy gap of 71 meV (˜819 K ) above the Fermi level and a topological metallic state with quasiquantized conductance below the Fermi level. The underlying mechanism leading to the formation of such nontrivial states is revealed by analysis of the "charge-transfer" and "orbital-filtering" effect of the Si substrate. A minimal effective tight-binding model is employed to reveal the formation mechanism of the topological states. Our finding opens opportunities to detect topological states and measure its quantized conductance in a large family of 2D surface metal alloys, which have been or are to be grown on semiconductor substrates.

  14. Experimental demonstration of anomalous Floquet topological insulator for sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Yu-Gui; Qin, Cheng-Zhi; Zhao, De-Gang; Shen, Ya-Xi; Xu, Xiang-Yuan; Bao, Ming; Jia, Han; Zhu, Xue-Feng

    2016-11-01

    Time-reversal invariant topological insulator is widely recognized as one of the fundamental discoveries in condensed matter physics, for which the most fascinating hallmark is perhaps a spin-based topological protection, the absence of scattering of conduction electrons with certain spins on matter surface. Recently, it has created a paradigm shift for topological insulators, from electronics to photonics, phononics and mechanics as well, bringing about not only involved new physics but also potential applications in robust wave transport. Despite the growing interests in topologically protected acoustic wave transport, T-invariant acoustic topological insulator has not yet been achieved. Here we report experimental demonstration of anomalous Floquet topological insulator for sound: a strongly coupled metamaterial ring lattice that supports one-way propagation of pseudo-spin-dependent edge states under T-symmetry. We also demonstrate the formation of pseudo-spin-dependent interface states due to lattice dislocations and investigate the properties of pass band and band gap states.

  15. Unruly topologies in two-dimensional quantum gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartle, J.B.

    1985-01-01

    A sum over histories formulation of quantum geometry could involve sums over different topologies as well as sums over different metrics. In classical gravity a geometry is a manifold with a metric, but it is difficult to implement a sum over manifolds in quantum gravity. In this difficulty, motivation is found for including in the sum over histories, geometries defined on more general objects than manifolds-unruly topologies. In simplicial two-dimensional quantum gravity a class of simplicial complexes is found to which the gravitational action can be extended, for which sums over the class are straightforwardly defined, and for which a manifold dominates the sum in the classical limit. The situation in higher dimensions is discussed. (author)

  16. Inducing magneto-electric response in topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeng, Lunwu; Song, Runxia; Zeng, Jing

    2013-01-01

    Utilizing electric potential and magnetic scalar potential formulas, which contain zero-order Bessel functions of the first kind and the constitutive relations of topological insulators, we obtained the induced magnetic scalar potentials and induced magnetic monopole charges which are induced by a point charge in topological insulators. The results show that infinite image magnetic monopole charges are generated by a point electric charge. The magnitude of the induced magnetic monopole charges are determined not only by the point electric charge, but also by the material parameters. - Highlights: ► Electric potential and magnetic scalar potential which contain zero-order Bessel function of the first kind were derived. ► Boundary conditions of topological insulator were built. ► Induced monopole charges were worked out.

  17. Voltage-driven magnetization control in topological insulator/magnetic insulator heterostructures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael E. Flatté

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available A major barrier to the development of spin-based electronics is the transition from current-driven spin torque, or magnetic-field-driven magnetization reversal, to a more scalable voltage-driven magnetization reversal. To achieve this, multiferroic materials appear attractive, however the effects in current materials occur at very large voltages or at low temperatures. Here the potential of a new class of hybrid multiferroic materials is described, consisting of a topological insulator adjacent to a magnetic insulator, for which an applied electric field reorients the magnetization. As these materials lack conducting states at the chemical potential in their bulk, no dissipative charge currents flow in the bulk. Surface states at the interface, if present, produce effects similar to surface recombination currents in bipolar devices, but can be passivated using magnetic doping. Even without conducting states at the chemical potential, for a topological insulator there is a finite spin Hall conductivity provided by filled bands below the chemical potential. Spin accumulation at the interface with the magnetic insulator provides a torque on the magnetization. Properly timed voltage pulses can thus reorient the magnetic moment with only the flow of charge current required in the leads to establish the voltage. If the topological insulator is sufficiently thick the resulting low capacitance requires little charge current.

  18. Widespread spin polarization effects in photoemission from topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jozwiak, C.; Chen, Y. L.; Fedorov, A. V.; Analytis, J. G.; Rotundu, C. R.; Schmid, A. K.; Denlinger, J. D.; Chuang, Y.-D.; Lee, D.-H.; Fisher, I. R.; Birgeneau, R. J.; Shen, Z.-X.; Hussain, Z.; Lanzara, A.

    2011-06-22

    High-resolution spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (spin-ARPES) was performed on the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} using a recently developed high-efficiency spectrometer. The topological surface state's helical spin structure is observed, in agreement with theoretical prediction. Spin textures of both chiralities, at energies above and below the Dirac point, are observed, and the spin structure is found to persist at room temperature. The measurements reveal additional unexpected spin polarization effects, which also originate from the spin-orbit interaction, but are well differentiated from topological physics by contrasting momentum and photon energy and polarization dependencies. These observations demonstrate significant deviations of photoelectron and quasiparticle spin polarizations. Our findings illustrate the inherent complexity of spin-resolved ARPES and demonstrate key considerations for interpreting experimental results.

  19. Tetradymites as thermoelectrics and topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heremans, Joseph P.; Cava, Robert J.; Samarth, Nitin

    2017-10-01

    Tetradymites are M2X3 compounds — in which M is a group V metal, usually Bi or Sb, and X is a group VI anion, Te, Se or S — that crystallize in a rhombohedral structure. Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 are archetypical tetradymites. Other mixtures of M and X elements produce common variants, such as Bi2Te2Se. Because tetradymites are based on heavy p-block elements, strong spin-orbit coupling greatly influences their electronic properties, both on the surface and in the bulk. Their surface electronic states are a cornerstone of frontier work on topological insulators. The bulk energy bands are characterized by small energy gaps, high group velocities, small effective masses and band inversion near the centre of the Brillouin zone. These properties are favourable for high-efficiency thermoelectric materials but make it difficult to obtain an electrically insulating bulk, which is a requirement of topological insulators. This Review outlines recent progress made in bulk and thin-film tetradymite materials for the optimization of their properties both as thermoelectrics and as topological insulators.

  20. Inducing magneto-electric response in topological insulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zeng, Lunwu, E-mail: 163.sin@163.com [Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Intelligent Agricultural Equipment, College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210031 (China); Song, Runxia [Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Intelligent Agricultural Equipment, College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210031 (China); Zeng, Jing [Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, NSW 2122 (Australia)

    2013-02-15

    Utilizing electric potential and magnetic scalar potential formulas, which contain zero-order Bessel functions of the first kind and the constitutive relations of topological insulators, we obtained the induced magnetic scalar potentials and induced magnetic monopole charges which are induced by a point charge in topological insulators. The results show that infinite image magnetic monopole charges are generated by a point electric charge. The magnitude of the induced magnetic monopole charges are determined not only by the point electric charge, but also by the material parameters. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Electric potential and magnetic scalar potential which contain zero-order Bessel function of the first kind were derived. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Boundary conditions of topological insulator were built. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Induced monopole charges were worked out.

  1. Nematic order on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundgren, Rex; Yerzhakov, Hennadii; Maciejko, Joseph

    2017-12-01

    We study the spontaneous breaking of rotational symmetry in the helical surface state of three-dimensional topological insulators due to strong electron-electron interactions, focusing on time-reversal invariant nematic order. Owing to the strongly spin-orbit coupled nature of the surface state, the nematic order parameter is linear in the electron momentum and necessarily involves the electron spin, in contrast with spin-degenerate nematic Fermi liquids. For a chemical potential at the Dirac point (zero doping), we find a first-order phase transition at zero temperature between isotropic and nematic Dirac semimetals. This extends to a thermal phase transition that changes from first to second order at a finite-temperature tricritical point. At finite doping, we find a transition between isotropic and nematic helical Fermi liquids that is second order even at zero temperature. Focusing on finite doping, we discuss various observable consequences of nematic order, such as anisotropies in transport and the spin susceptibility, the partial breakdown of spin-momentum locking, collective modes and induced spin fluctuations, and non-Fermi-liquid behavior at the quantum critical point and in the nematic phase.

  2. Ferromagnetic-insulators-modulated transport properties on the surface of a topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo Jun-Ji; Liao Wen-Hu

    2014-01-01

    Transport properties on the surface of a topological insulator (TI) under the modulation of a two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnet/ferromagnet junction are investigated by the method of wave function matching. The single ferromagnetic barrier modulated transmission probability is expected to be a periodic function of the polarization angle and the planar rotation angle, that decreases with the strength of the magnetic proximity exchange increasing. However, the transmission probability for the double ferromagnetic insulators modulated n—n junction and n—p junction is not a periodic function of polarization angle nor planar rotation angle, owing to the combined effects of the double ferromagnetic insulators and the barrier potential. Since the energy gap between the conduction band and the valence band is narrowed and widened respectively in ranges of 0 ≤ θ < π/2 and π/2 < θ ≤ π, the transmission probability of the n—n junction first increases rapidly and then decreases slowly with the increase of the magnetic proximity exchange strength. While the transmission probability for the n—p junction demonstrates an opposite trend on the strength of the magnetic proximity exchange because the band gaps contrarily vary. The obtained results may lead to the possible realization of a magnetic/electric switch based on TIs and be useful in further understanding the surface states of TIs

  3. Thermoelectric properties of 3D topological insulator: Direct observation of topological surface and its gap opened states

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsushita, Stephane Yu; Huynh, Khuong Kim; Yoshino, Harukazu; Tu, Ngoc Han; Tanabe, Yoichi; Tanigaki, Katsumi

    2017-10-01

    We report thermoelectric (TE) properties of topological surface Dirac states (TSDS) in three-dimensional topological insulators (3D-TIs) purely isolated from the bulk by employing single-crystal B i2 -xS bxT e3 -yS ey films epitaxially grown in the ultrathin limit. Two intrinsic nontrivial topological surface states, a metallic TSDS (m-TSDS) and a gap-opened semiconducting topological state (g-TSDS), are successfully observed by electrical transport, and important TE parameters [electrical conductivity (σ), thermal conductivity (κ), and thermopower (S )] are accurately determined. Pure m-TSDS gives S =-44 μ V K-1 , which is an order of magnitude higher than those of the conventional metals and the value is enhanced to -212 μ V K-1 for g-TSDS. It is clearly shown that the semiclassical Boltzmann transport equation (SBTE) in the framework of constant relaxation time (τ) most frequently used for conventional analysis cannot be valid in 3D-TIs and strong energy dependent relaxation time τ(E ) beyond the Born approximation is essential for making intrinsic interpretations. Although σ is protected on the m-TSDS, κ is greatly influenced by the disorder on the topological surface, giving a dissimilar effect between topologically protected electronic conduction and phonon transport.

  4. Engineering topological edge states in two dimensional magnetic photonic crystal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Bing; Wu, Tong; Zhang, Xiangdong

    2017-01-01

    Based on a perturbative approach, we propose a simple and efficient method to engineer the topological edge states in two dimensional magnetic photonic crystals. The topological edge states in the microstructures can be constructed and varied by altering the parameters of the microstructure according to the field-energy distributions of the Bloch states at the related Bloch wave vectors. The validity of the proposed method has been demonstrated by exact numerical calculations through three concrete examples. Our method makes the topological edge states "designable."

  5. Weak antilocalization and universal conductance fluctuations in bismuth telluro-sulfide topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trivedi, Tanuj, E-mail: tanuj@utexas.edu; Sonde, Sushant; Movva, Hema C. P.; Banerjee, Sanjay K., E-mail: banerjee@ece.utexas.edu [Microelectronics Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758 (United States)

    2016-02-07

    We report on van der Waals epitaxial growth, materials characterization, and magnetotransport experiments in crystalline nanosheets of Bismuth Telluro-Sulfide (BTS). Highly layered, good-quality crystalline nanosheets of BTS are obtained on SiO{sub 2} and muscovite mica. Weak-antilocalization (WAL), electron-electron interaction-driven insulating ground state and universal conductance fluctuations are observed in magnetotransport experiments on BTS devices. Temperature, thickness, and magnetic field dependence of the transport data indicate the presence of two-dimensional surface states along with bulk conduction, in agreement with theoretical models. An extended-WAL model is proposed and utilized in conjunction with a two-channel conduction model to analyze the data, revealing a surface component and evidence of multiple conducting channels. A facile growth method and detailed magnetotransport results indicating BTS as an alternative topological insulator material system are presented.

  6. Weak antilocalization in a three-dimensional topological insulator based on a high-mobility HgTe film

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savchenko, M. L.; Kozlov, D. A.; Kvon, Z. D.; Mikhailov, N. N.; Dvoretsky, S. A.

    2016-09-01

    The anomalous magnetoresistance (AMR) caused by the weak antilocalization effects in a three-dimensional topological insulator based on a strained mercury telluride film is experimentally studied. It is demonstrated that the obtained results are in a good agreement with the universal theory of Zduniak, Dyakonov, and Knap. It is found that the AMR in the bulk band gap is far below that expected for the system of Dirac fermions. Such a discrepancy can assumingly be related to a nonzero effective mass of Dirac fermions. The filling of energy bands in the bulk is accompanied by a pronounced increase in the AMR. This is a signature of the weak coupling between the surface and bulk charge carriers.

  7. Topological Crystalline Insulators and Dirac Octets in Anti-perovskites

    OpenAIRE

    Hsieh, Timothy H.; Liu, Junwei; Fu, Liang

    2014-01-01

    We predict a new class of topological crystalline insulators (TCI) in the anti-perovskite material family with the chemical formula A$_3$BX. Here the nontrivial topology arises from band inversion between two $J=3/2$ quartets, which is described by a generalized Dirac equation for a "Dirac octet". Our work suggests that anti-perovskites are a promising new venue for exploring the cooperative interplay between band topology, crystal symmetry and electron correlation.

  8. Topological field theories and two-dimensional instantons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schaposnik, F.A.

    1990-01-01

    In this paper, the author discusses some topics related to the recently developed Topological Field Theories (TFTs). The first part is devoted to a discussion on how a TFT can be quantized using techniques which are well-known from the study of gauge theories. Then the author describes the results that we have obtained in collaboration with George Thompson in the study of a two-dimensional TFT related to the Abelian Higgs model

  9. Chiral topological insulator on Nambu 3-algebraic geometry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazuki Hasebe

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Chiral topological insulator (AIII-class with Landau levels is constructed based on the Nambu 3-algebraic geometry. We clarify the geometric origin of the chiral symmetry of the AIII-class topological insulator in the context of non-commutative geometry of 4D quantum Hall effect. The many-body groundstate wavefunction is explicitly derived as a (l,l,l−1 Laughlin–Halperin type wavefunction with unique K-matrix structure. Fundamental excitation is identified with anyonic string-like object with fractional charge 1/(2(l−12+1. The Hall effect of the chiral topological insulators turns out be a color version of Hall effect, which exhibits a dual property of the Hall and spin-Hall effects.

  10. Electrically tuned magnetic order and magnetoresistance in a topological insulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zuocheng; Feng, Xiao; Guo, Minghua; Li, Kang; Zhang, Jinsong; Ou, Yunbo; Feng, Yang; Wang, Lili; Chen, Xi; He, Ke; Ma, Xucun; Xue, Qikun; Wang, Yayu

    2014-09-15

    The interplay between topological protection and broken time reversal symmetry in topological insulators may lead to highly unconventional magnetoresistance behaviour that can find unique applications in magnetic sensing and data storage. However, the magnetoresistance of topological insulators with spontaneously broken time reversal symmetry is still poorly understood. In this work, we investigate the transport properties of a ferromagnetic topological insulator thin film fabricated into a field effect transistor device. We observe a complex evolution of gate-tuned magnetoresistance, which is positive when the Fermi level lies close to the Dirac point but becomes negative at higher energies. This trend is opposite to that expected from the Berry phase picture, but is intimately correlated with the gate-tuned magnetic order. The underlying physics is the competition between the topology-induced weak antilocalization and magnetism-induced negative magnetoresistance. The simultaneous electrical control of magnetic order and magnetoresistance facilitates future topological insulator based spintronic devices.

  11. Bulk and edge spin transport in topological magnon insulators

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rückriegel, A.; Brataas, A.; Duine, R.A.

    2018-01-01

    We investigate the spin transport properties of a topological magnon insulator, a magnetic insulator characterized by topologically nontrivial bulk magnon bands and protected magnon edge modes located in the bulk band gaps. Employing the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert phenomenology, we calculate the spin

  12. A quantized microwave quadrupole insulator with topologically protected corner states

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Christopher W.; Benalcazar, Wladimir A.; Hughes, Taylor L.; Bahl, Gaurav

    2018-03-01

    The theory of electric polarization in crystals defines the dipole moment of an insulator in terms of a Berry phase (geometric phase) associated with its electronic ground state. This concept not only solves the long-standing puzzle of how to calculate dipole moments in crystals, but also explains topological band structures in insulators and superconductors, including the quantum anomalous Hall insulator and the quantum spin Hall insulator, as well as quantized adiabatic pumping processes. A recent theoretical study has extended the Berry phase framework to also account for higher electric multipole moments, revealing the existence of higher-order topological phases that have not previously been observed. Here we demonstrate experimentally a member of this predicted class of materials—a quantized quadrupole topological insulator—produced using a gigahertz-frequency reconfigurable microwave circuit. We confirm the non-trivial topological phase using spectroscopic measurements and by identifying corner states that result from the bulk topology. In addition, we test the critical prediction that these corner states are protected by the topology of the bulk, and are not due to surface artefacts, by deforming the edges of the crystal lattice from the topological to the trivial regime. Our results provide conclusive evidence of a unique form of robustness against disorder and deformation, which is characteristic of higher-order topological insulators.

  13. Inverse participation ratio and localization in topological insulator phase transitions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Calixto, M; Romera, E

    2015-01-01

    Fluctuations of Hamiltonian eigenfunctions, measured by the inverse participation ratio (IPR), turn out to characterize topological-band insulator transitions occurring in 2D Dirac materials like silicene, which is isostructural with graphene but with a strong spin–orbit interaction. Using monotonic properties of the IPR, as a function of a perpendicular electric field (which provides a tunable band gap), we define topological-like quantum numbers that take different values in the topological-insulator and band-insulator phases. (paper)

  14. Bulk and edge spin transport in topological magnon insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rückriegel, Andreas; Brataas, Arne; Duine, Rembert A.

    2018-02-01

    We investigate the spin transport properties of a topological magnon insulator, a magnetic insulator characterized by topologically nontrivial bulk magnon bands and protected magnon edge modes located in the bulk band gaps. Employing the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert phenomenology, we calculate the spin current driven through a normal metal |topological magnon insulator |normal metal heterostructure by a spin accumulation imbalance between the metals, with and without random lattice defects. We show that bulk and edge transport are characterized by different length scales. This results in a characteristic system size where the magnon transport crosses over from being bulk dominated for small systems to edge dominated for larger systems. These findings are generic and relevant for topological transport in systems of nonconserved bosons.

  15. Strain effects in topological insulators: Topological order and the emergence of switchable topological interface states in Sb2Te3/Bi2Te3 heterojunctions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aramberri, H.; Muñoz, M. C.

    2017-05-01

    We investigate the effects of strain on the topological order of the Bi2Se3 family of topological insulators by ab initio first-principles methods. Strain can induce a topological phase transition and we present the phase diagram for the 3D topological insulators, Bi2Te3 , Sb2Te3 , Bi2Se3 , and Sb2Se3 , under combined uniaxial and biaxial strain. Their phase diagram is universal and shows metallic and insulating phases, both topologically trivial and nontrivial. In particular, uniaxial tension can drive the four compounds into a topologically trivial insulating phase. We propose a Sb2Te3/Bi2Te3 heterojunction in which a strain-induced topological interface state arises in the common gap of this normal insulator-topological insulator heterojunction. Unexpectedly, the interface state is confined in the topologically trivial subsystem and is physically protected from ambient impurities. It can be switched on or off by means of uniaxial strain and therefore Sb2Te3 /Bi2Te3 heterojunctions provide a topological system which hosts tunable robust helical interface states with promising spintronic applications.

  16. Interaction effects and quantum phase transitions in topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varney, Christopher N.; Sun Kai; Galitski, Victor; Rigol, Marcos

    2010-01-01

    We study strong correlation effects in topological insulators via the Lanczos algorithm, which we utilize to calculate the exact many-particle ground-state wave function and its topological properties. We analyze the simple, noninteracting Haldane model on a honeycomb lattice with known topological properties and demonstrate that these properties are already evident in small clusters. Next, we consider interacting fermions by introducing repulsive nearest-neighbor interactions. A first-order quantum phase transition was discovered at finite interaction strength between the topological band insulator and a topologically trivial Mott insulating phase by use of the fidelity metric and the charge-density-wave structure factor. We construct the phase diagram at T=0 as a function of the interaction strength and the complex phase for the next-nearest-neighbor hoppings. Finally, we consider the Haldane model with interacting hard-core bosons, where no evidence for a topological phase is observed. An important general conclusion of our work is that despite the intrinsic nonlocality of topological phases their key topological properties manifest themselves already in small systems and therefore can be studied numerically via exact diagonalization and observed experimentally, e.g., with trapped ions and cold atoms in optical lattices.

  17. Unidirectional spin-Hall and Rashba-Edelstein magnetoresistance in topological insulator-ferromagnet layer heterostructures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Yang; Kally, James; Zhang, Delin; Lee, Joon Sue; Jamali, Mahdi; Samarth, Nitin; Wang, Jian-Ping

    2018-01-09

    The large spin-orbit coupling in topological insulators results in helical spin-textured Dirac surface states that are attractive for topological spintronics. These states generate an efficient spin-orbit torque on proximal magnetic moments. However, memory or logic spin devices based upon such switching require a non-optimal three-terminal geometry, with two terminals for the writing current and one for reading the state of the device. An alternative two-terminal device geometry is now possible by exploiting the recent discovery of the unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance in heavy metal/ferromagnet bilayers and unidirectional magnetoresistance in magnetic topological insulators. Here, we report the observation of such unidirectional magnetoresistance in a technologically relevant device geometry that combines a topological insulator with a conventional ferromagnetic metal. Our devices show a figure of merit (magnetoresistance per current density per total resistance) that is more than twice as large as the highest reported values in all-metal Ta/Co bilayers.

  18. Disorder-induced transitions in resonantly driven Floquet topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Titum, Paraj; Lindner, Netanel H.; Refael, Gil

    2017-08-01

    We investigate the effects of disorder in Floquet topological insulators (FTIs) occurring in semiconductor quantum wells. Such FTIs are induced by resonantly driving a transition between the valence and conduction bands. We show that when disorder is added, the topological nature of such FTIs persists as long as there is a mobility gap at the resonant quasienergy. For strong enough disorder, this gap closes and all the states become localized as the system undergoes a transition to a trivial insulator. Interestingly, the effects of disorder are not necessarily adverse: we show that in the same quantum well, disorder can also induce a transition from a trivial to a topological system, thereby establishing a Floquet topological Anderson insulator (FTAI). We identify the conditions on the driving field necessary for observing such a transition.

  19. Ultra-low carrier concentration and surface-dominant transport in antimony-doped Bi2Se3 topological insulator nanoribbons

    KAUST Repository

    Hong, Seung Sae; Cha, Judy J.; Kong, Desheng; Cui, Yi

    2012-01-01

    A topological insulator is the state of quantum matter possessing gapless spin-locking surface states across the bulk band gap, which has created new opportunities from novel electronics to energy conversion. However, the large concentration of bulk residual carriers has been a major challenge for revealing the property of the topological surface state by electron transport measurements. Here we report the surface-state-dominant transport in antimony-doped, zinc oxide-encapsulated Bi2Se3 nanoribbons with suppressed bulk electron concentration. In the nanoribbon with sub-10-nm thickness protected by a zinc oxide layer, we position the Fermi levels of the top and bottom surfaces near the Dirac point by electrostatic gating, achieving extremely low two-dimensional carrier concentration of 2×10 11cm-2. The zinc oxide-capped, antimony-doped Bi 2Se3 nanostructures provide an attractive materials platform to study fundamental physics in topological insulators, as well as future applications. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

  20. Ultra-low carrier concentration and surface-dominant transport in antimony-doped Bi2Se3 topological insulator nanoribbons

    KAUST Repository

    Hong, Seung Sae

    2012-03-27

    A topological insulator is the state of quantum matter possessing gapless spin-locking surface states across the bulk band gap, which has created new opportunities from novel electronics to energy conversion. However, the large concentration of bulk residual carriers has been a major challenge for revealing the property of the topological surface state by electron transport measurements. Here we report the surface-state-dominant transport in antimony-doped, zinc oxide-encapsulated Bi2Se3 nanoribbons with suppressed bulk electron concentration. In the nanoribbon with sub-10-nm thickness protected by a zinc oxide layer, we position the Fermi levels of the top and bottom surfaces near the Dirac point by electrostatic gating, achieving extremely low two-dimensional carrier concentration of 2×10 11cm-2. The zinc oxide-capped, antimony-doped Bi 2Se3 nanostructures provide an attractive materials platform to study fundamental physics in topological insulators, as well as future applications. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

  1. Valley polarized quantum Hall effect and topological insulator phase transitions in silicene

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.

    2013-01-25

    The electronic properties of silicene are distinct from both the conventional two dimensional electron gas and the famous graphene due to strong spin orbit interaction and the buckled structure. Silicene has the potential to overcome limitations encountered for graphene, in particular the zero band gap and weak spin orbit interaction. We demonstrate a valley polarized quantum Hall effect and topological insulator phase transitions. We use the Kubo formalism to discuss the Hall conductivity and address the longitudinal conductivity for elastic impurity scattering in the first Born approximation. We show that the combination of an electric field with intrinsic spin orbit interaction leads to quantum phase transitions at the charge neutrality point, providing a tool to experimentally tune the topological state. Silicene constitutes a model system for exploring the spin and valley physics not accessible in graphene due to the small spin orbit interaction.

  2. A first theoretical realization of honeycomb topological magnon insulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owerre, S A

    2016-09-28

    It has been recently shown that in the Heisenberg (anti)ferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice, the magnons (spin wave quasipacticles) realize a massless two-dimensional (2D) Dirac-like Hamiltonian. It was shown that the Dirac magnon Hamiltonian preserves time-reversal symmetry defined with the sublattice pseudo spins and the Dirac points are robust against magnon-magnon interactions. The Dirac points also occur at nonzero energy. In this paper, we propose a simple realization of nontrivial topology (magnon edge states) in this system. We show that the Dirac points are gapped when the inversion symmetry of the lattice is broken by introducing a next-nearest neighbour Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. Thus, the system realizes magnon edge states similar to the Haldane model for quantum anomalous Hall effect in electronic systems. However, in contrast to electronic spin current where dissipation can be very large due to Ohmic heating, noninteracting topological magnons can propagate for a long time without dissipation as magnons are uncharged particles. We observe the same magnon edge states for the XY model on the honeycomb lattice. Remarkably, in this case the model maps to interacting hardcore bosons on the honeycomb lattice. Quantum magnetic systems with nontrivial magnon edge states are called topological magnon insulators. They have been studied theoretically on the kagome lattice and recently observed experimentally on the kagome magnet Cu(1-3, bdc) with three magnon bulk bands. Our results for the honeycomb lattice suggests an experimental procedure to search for honeycomb topological magnon insulators within a class of 2D quantum magnets and ultracold atoms trapped in honeycomb optical lattices. In 3D lattices, Dirac and Weyl points were recently studied theoretically, however, the criteria that give rise to them were not well-understood. We argue that the low-energy Hamiltonian near the Weyl points should break time-reversal symmetry of the pseudo spins

  3. Design principles for HgTe based topological insulator devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sengupta, Parijat; Kubis, Tillmann; Tan, Yaohua; Povolotskyi, Michael; Klimeck, Gerhard

    2013-07-01

    The topological insulator properties of CdTe/HgTe/CdTe quantum wells are theoretically studied. The CdTe/HgTe/CdTe quantum well behaves as a topological insulator beyond a critical well width dimension. It is shown that if the barrier (CdTe) and well-region (HgTe) are altered by replacing them with the alloy CdxHg1-xTe of various stoichiometries, the critical width can be changed. The critical quantum well width is shown to depend on temperature, applied stress, growth directions, and external electric fields. Based on these results, a novel device concept is proposed that allows to switch between a normal semiconducting and topological insulator state through application of moderate external electric fields.

  4. Spin-torque generation in topological insulator based heterostructures

    KAUST Repository

    Fischer, Mark H.; Vaezi, Abolhassan; Manchon, Aurelien; Kim, Eun-Ah

    2016-01-01

    Heterostructures utilizing topological insulators exhibit a remarkable spin-torque efficiency. However, the exact origin of the strong torque, in particular whether it stems from the spin-momentum locking of the topological surface states or rather

  5. A New Numerical Method for Z2 Topological Insulators with Strong Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akagi, Yutaka; Katsura, Hosho; Koma, Tohru

    2017-12-01

    We propose a new method to numerically compute the Z2 indices for disordered topological insulators in Kitaev's periodic table. All of the Z2 indices are derived from the index formulae which are expressed in terms of a pair of projections introduced by Avron, Seiler, and Simon. For a given pair of projections, the corresponding index is determined by the spectrum of the difference between the two projections. This difference exhibits remarkable and useful properties, as it is compact and has a supersymmetric structure in the spectrum. These properties enable highly efficient numerical calculation of the indices of disordered topological insulators. The method, which we propose, is demonstrated for the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang and Wilson-Dirac models whose topological phases are characterized by a Z2 index in two and three dimensions, respectively.

  6. Magnon-induced superconductivity in a topological insulator coupled to ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hugdal, Henning G.; Rex, Stefan; Nogueira, Flavio S.; Sudbø, Asle

    2018-05-01

    We study the effective interactions between Dirac fermions on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator due to the proximity coupling to the magnetic fluctuations in a ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic insulator. Our results show that the magnetic fluctuations can mediate attractive interactions between Dirac fermions of both Amperean and BCS types. In the ferromagnetic case, we find pairing between fermions with parallel momenta, so-called Amperean pairing, whenever the effective Lagrangian for the magnetic fluctuations does not contain a quadratic term. The pairing interaction also increases with increasing Fermi momentum and is in agreement with previous studies in the limit of high chemical potential. If a quadratic term is present, the pairing is instead of BCS type above a certain chemical potential. In the antiferromagnetic case, BCS pairing occurs when the ferromagnetic coupling between magnons on the same sublattice exceeds the antiferromagnetic coupling between magnons on different sublattices. Outside this region in parameter space, we again find that Amperean pairing is realized.

  7. Local density of states in two-dimensional topological superconductors under a magnetic field: Signature of an exterior Majorana bound state

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Shu-Ichiro; Kawaguchi, Yuki; Tanaka, Yukio

    2018-04-01

    We study quasiparticle states on a surface of a topological insulator (TI) with proximity-induced superconductivity under an external magnetic field. An applied magnetic field creates two Majorana bound states: a vortex Majorana state localized inside a vortex core and an exterior Majorana state localized along a circle centered at the vortex core. We calculate the spin-resolved local density of states (LDOS) and demonstrate that the shrinking of the radius of the exterior Majorana state, predicted in R. S. Akzyanov et al., Phys. Rev. B 94, 125428 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevB.94.125428, under a strong magnetic field can be seen in LDOS without smeared out by nonzero-energy states. The spin-resolved LDOS further reveals that the spin of the exterior Majorana state is strongly spin-polarized. Accordingly, the induced odd-frequency spin-triplet pairs are found to be spin-polarized as well. In order to detect the exterior Majorana states, however, the Fermi energy should be closed to the Dirac point to avoid contributions from continuum levels. We also study a different two-dimensional topological-superconducting system where a two-dimensional electron gas with the spin-orbit coupling is sandwiched between an s -wave superconductor and a ferromagnetic insulator. We show that the radius of an exterior Majorana state can be tuned by an applied magnetic field. However, on the contrary to the results at a TI surface, neither the exterior Majorana state nor the induced odd-frequency spin-triplet pairs are spin-polarized. We conclude that the spin polarization of the Majorana state is attributed to the spin-polarized Landau level, which is characteristic for systems with the Dirac-like dispersion.

  8. Growth of niobium on the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 1.95}Se{sub 1.05}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meixner, Philipp [Novel Materials Group, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747 (Korea, Republic of); Lim, Seong Joon [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747 (Korea, Republic of); Park, Joonbum; Kim, Jun Sung [Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784 (Korea, Republic of); Fischer, Saskia F. [Novel Materials Group, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Seo, Jungpil [NANOSPM Lab, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Daegu 711-873 (Korea, Republic of); Kuk, Young [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747 (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-01-15

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • We grew niobium on topological insulator at different substrate temperatures. • Local density of states is modified by deposited Nb islands. • We found a downward shift of the Dirac point, since niobium acts as a donor. • Nb grew in layer-by-layer growth mode up to an annealing temperature of 450 °C. • We applied a new cleaving method allowing for sample heating of flux-grown TI. - Abstract: While applying a new cleaving method, we investigated the growth of Nb on the three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 1.95}Se{sub 1.05} by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. After the deposition of nearly a full monolayer of Nb by high-energy electron-beam evaporation, we observed a downshift of the bands and the Dirac point on the TI surface, which is the result of an n-type doping of the TI by transition metal adatoms. Extra peaks in the spectroscopy results upon Nb deposition might indicate a Rashba-split of the bulk bands. Nb grew in small 10 nm wide islands upon sub-monolayer growth and in a layer-by-layer growth mode up to an annealing temperature of 450 °C.

  9. Quantum magnetotransport properties of topological insulators under strain

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.

    2012-08-15

    We present a detailed theoretical investigation of the quantum magnetotransport properties of topological insulators under strain. We consider an external magnetic field perpendicular to the surface of the topological insulator in the presence of strain induced by the substrate. The strain effects mix the lower and upper surface states of neighboring Landau levels into two unequally spaced energy branches. Analytical expressions are derived for the collisional conductivity for elastic impurity scattering in the first Born approximation. We also calculate the Hall conductivity using the Kubo formalism. Evidence for the beating of Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations is found from the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the collisional and Hall conductivities. In the regime of a strong magnetic field, the beating pattern is replaced by a splitting of the magnetoresistance peaks due to finite strain energy. These results are in excellent agreement with recent HgTe transport experiments.

  10. The effect of van der Waal's gap expansions on the surface electronic structure of layered topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eremeev, S V; Vergniory, M G; Chulkov, E V; Menshchikova, T V; Shaposhnikov, A A

    2012-01-01

    On the basis of relativistic ab initio calculations, we show that an expansion of van der Waal's (vdW) spacings in layered topological insulators caused by intercalation of deposited atoms, leads to the simultaneous emergence of parabolic and M-shaped two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) bands as well as Rashba-splitting of the former states. The expansion of vdW spacings and the emergence of the 2DEG states localized in the (sub)surface region are also accompanied by a relocation of the topological surface state to the lower quintuple layers, that can explain the absence of inter-band scattering found experimentally. (paper)

  11. The substrate strain mediated magnetotransport properties of surface states in topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ma, Ning, E-mail: maning@stu.xjtu.edu.cn [Department of Physics, MOE Key Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Department of Applied Physics, MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049 (China); Zhang, Shengli, E-mail: zhangsl@mail.xjtu.edu.cn [Department of Applied Physics, MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049 (China); Liu, Daqing, E-mail: liudq@cczu.edu.cn [School of Mathematics and Physics, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164 (China)

    2016-10-14

    Recent experiments reveal that the strained bulk HgTe can be regarded as a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI). We further explore the strain effects on magnetotransport in HgTe at magnetic field. We find that the substrate strain associated with the surface index of carriers, can remove the surfaces degeneracy in Landau levels. This accordingly induces the well separated surface quantum Hall plateaus and Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations. These results can be used to generate and detect surface polarization, not only in HgTe but also in a broad class of TIs, which would be very great news for electronic applications of TIs. - Highlights: • We explore the strain mediated magnetotransport in topological insulators. • We analytically derive the zero frequency magnetoconductivity. • The strain removes the surface degeneracy in Landau levels. • The strain gives rise to the splitting and mixture of Landau levels. • The strain leads to the surface asymmetric spectrum of conductivity.

  12. Hall conductance and topological invariant for open systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, H Z; Wang, W; Yi, X X

    2014-09-24

    The Hall conductivity given by the Kubo formula is a linear response of quantum transverse transport to a weak electric field. It has been intensively studied for quantum systems without decoherence, but it is barely explored for systems subject to decoherence. In this paper, we develop a formulism to deal with this issue for topological insulators. The Hall conductance of a topological insulator coupled to an environment is derived, the derivation is based on a linear response theory developed for open systems in this paper. As an application, the Hall conductance of a two-band topological insulator and a two-dimensional lattice is presented and discussed.

  13. Strongly anisotropic spin-orbit splitting in a two-dimensional electron gas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Michiardi, Matteo; Bianchi, Marco; Dendzik, Maciej

    2015-01-01

    Near-surface two-dimensional electron gases on the topological insulator Bi$_2$Te$_2$Se are induced by electron doping and studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. A pronounced spin-orbit splitting is observed for these states. The $k$-dependent splitting is strongly anisotropic to a...

  14. Topological insulator infrared pseudo-bolometer with polarization sensitivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sharma, Peter Anand

    2017-10-25

    Topological insulators can be utilized in a new type of infrared photodetector that is intrinsically sensitive to the polarization of incident light and static magnetic fields. The detector isolates single topological insulator surfaces and allows light collection and exposure to static magnetic fields. The wavelength range of interest is between 750 nm and about 100 microns. This detector eliminates the need for external polarization selective optics. Polarization sensitive infrared photodetectors are useful for optoelectronics applications, such as light detection in environments with low visibility in the visible wavelength regime.

  15. Spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry in topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Karnaukhov, Igor N., E-mail: karnaui@yahoo.com

    2017-06-21

    Highlights: • Proposed a new approach for description of phase transitions in topological insulators. • Considered the mechanism of spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry in topological insulators. • The Haldane model can be implemented in real compounds of the condensed matter physics. - Abstract: The system of spinless fermions on a hexagonal lattice is studied. We have considered tight-binding model with the hopping integrals between the nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor lattice sites, that depend on the direction of the link. The links are divided on three types depending on the direction, the hopping integrals are defined by different phases along the links. The energy of the system depends on the phase differences, the solutions for the phases, that correspond to the minimums of the energy, lead to a topological insulator state with the nontrivial Chern numbers. We have analyzed distinct topological states and phase transitions, the behavior of the chiral gapless edge modes, have defined the Chern numbers. The band structure of topological insulator (TI) is calculated, the ground-state phase diagram in the parameter space is obtained. We propose a novel mechanism of realization of TI, when the TI state is result of spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry due to nontrivial stable solutions for the phases that determine the hopping integrals along the links and show that the Haldane model can be implemented in real compounds of the condensed matter physics.

  16. Topological insulating phases of non-Abelian anyonic chains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    DeGottardi, Wade

    2014-08-01

    Boundary conformal field theory is brought to bear on the study of topological insulating phases of non- Abelian anyonic chains. These phases display protected anyonic end modes. We consider spin-1/2 su(2)t chains at any level k, focusing on the most prominent examples: the case k = 2 describes Ising anyons (equivalent to Majorana fermions) and k = 3 corresponds to Fibonacci anyons. The method we develop is quite general and rests on a deep connection between boundary conformal field theory and topological symmetry. This method tightly constrains the nature of the topological insulating phases of these chains for general k. Emergent anyons which arise at domain walls are shown to have the same braiding properties as the physical quasiparticles. This suggests a "solid-stat.e" topological quantum computation scheme in which emergent anyons are braided by tuning the couplings of non-Abelian quasiparticles in a fixed network.

  17. Coherent structures and flow topology of transitional separated-reattached flow over two and three dimensional geometrical shapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diabil, Hayder Azeez; Li, Xin Kai; Abdalla, Ibrahim Elrayah

    2017-09-01

    Large-scale organized motions (commonly referred to coherent structures) and flow topology of a transitional separated-reattached flow have been visualised and investigated using flow visualisation techniques. Two geometrical shapes including two-dimensional flat plate with rectangular leading edge and three-dimensional square cylinder are chosen to shed a light on the flow topology and present coherent structures of the flow over these shapes. For both geometries and in the early stage of the transition, two-dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz rolls are formed downstream of the leading edge. They are observed to be twisting around the square cylinder while they stay flat in the case of the two-dimensional flat plate. For both geometrical shapes, the two-dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz rolls move downstream of the leading edge and they are subjected to distortion to form three-dimensional hairpin structures. The flow topology in the flat plate is different from that in the square cylinder. For the flat plate, there is a merging process by a pairing of the Kelvin-Helmholtz rolls to form a large structure that breaks down directly into many hairpin structures. For the squire cylinder case, the Kelvin-Helmholtz roll evolves topologically to form a hairpin structure. In the squire cylinder case, the reattachment length is much shorter and a forming of the three-dimensional structures is closer to the leading edge than that in the flat plate case.

  18. Amorphous topological insulators constructed from random point sets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Noah P.; Nash, Lisa M.; Hexner, Daniel; Turner, Ari M.; Irvine, William T. M.

    2018-04-01

    The discovery that the band structure of electronic insulators may be topologically non-trivial has revealed distinct phases of electronic matter with novel properties1,2. Recently, mechanical lattices have been found to have similarly rich structure in their phononic excitations3,4, giving rise to protected unidirectional edge modes5-7. In all of these cases, however, as well as in other topological metamaterials3,8, the underlying structure was finely tuned, be it through periodicity, quasi-periodicity or isostaticity. Here we show that amorphous Chern insulators can be readily constructed from arbitrary underlying structures, including hyperuniform, jammed, quasi-crystalline and uniformly random point sets. While our findings apply to mechanical and electronic systems alike, we focus on networks of interacting gyroscopes as a model system. Local decorations control the topology of the vibrational spectrum, endowing amorphous structures with protected edge modes—with a chirality of choice. Using a real-space generalization of the Chern number, we investigate the topology of our structures numerically, analytically and experimentally. The robustness of our approach enables the topological design and self-assembly of non-crystalline topological metamaterials on the micro and macro scale.

  19. Developing Topological Insulator Fiber Based Photon Pairs Source for Ultrafast Optoelectronic Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-04-01

    of a thin layer of topological insulator Bi2Se3 with the transmission of T = 50%. We apply magnetic field B=3 tesla normal to the sample and parallel...nonlinear induced by magnetic field in the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3 and Molybdenum Disulfide MoS2. The nonlinear effect is pulse broadening...Topological Insulator Q- Switched Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser”, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. Electron., 20, 0900508 (2014). [2]. Shuqing Chen et al, “Stable Q

  20. Dirac topological insulator in the dz2 manifold of a honeycomb oxide

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lado, J. L.; Pardo, V.

    2016-09-01

    We show by means of ab initio calculations and tight-binding modeling that an oxide system based on a honeycomb lattice can sustain topologically nontrivial states if a single orbital dominates the spectrum close to the Fermi level. In such a situation, the low-energy spectrum is described by two Dirac equations that become nontrivially gapped when spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is switched on. We provide one specific example but the recipe is general. We discuss a realization of this starting from a conventional spin-1/2 honeycomb antiferromagnet whose states close to the Fermi energy are dz2 orbitals. Switching off magnetism by atomic substitution and ensuring that the electronic structure becomes two-dimensional is sufficient for topologicality to arise in such a system. By deriving a tight-binding Wannier Hamiltonian, we find that the gap in such a model scales linearly with SOC, opposed to other oxide-based topological insulators, where smaller gaps tend to appear by construction of the lattice. We show that the quantum spin Hall state in this system survives in the presence of off-plane magnetism and the orbital magnetic field and we discuss its Landau level spectra, showing that our recipe provides a dz2 realization of the Kane-Mele model.

  1. Spin-transfer torque generated by a topological insulator

    KAUST Repository

    Mellnik, A. R.

    2014-07-23

    Magnetic devices are a leading contender for the implementation of memory and logic technologies that are non-volatile, that can scale to high density and high speed, and that do not wear out. However, widespread application of magnetic memory and logic devices will require the development of efficient mechanisms for reorienting their magnetization using the least possible current and power. There has been considerable recent progress in this effort; in particular, it has been discovered that spin-orbit interactions in heavy-metal/ferromagnet bilayers can produce strong current-driven torques on the magnetic layer, via the spin Hall effect in the heavy metal or the Rashba-Edelstein effect in the ferromagnet. In the search for materials to provide even more efficient spin-orbit-induced torques, some proposals have suggested topological insulators, which possess a surface state in which the effects of spin-orbit coupling are maximal in the sense that an electron\\' s spin orientation is fixed relative to its propagation direction. Here we report experiments showing that charge current flowing in-plane in a thin film of the topological insulator bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) at room temperature can indeed exert a strong spin-transfer torque on an adjacent ferromagnetic permalloy (Ni81Fe19) thin film, with a direction consistent with that expected from the topological surface state. We find that the strength of the torque per unit charge current density in Bi 2Se3 is greater than for any source of spin-transfer torque measured so far, even for non-ideal topological insulator films in which the surface states coexist with bulk conduction. Our data suggest that topological insulators could enable very efficient electrical manipulation of magnetic materials at room temperature, for memory and logic applications. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

  2. Effects of Structural and Electronic Disorder in Topological Insulator Sb2Te3 Thin Films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korzhovska, Inna

    Topological quantum matter is a unique and potentially transformative protectorate against disorder-induced backscattering. The ultimate disorder limits to the topological state, however, are still not known - understanding these limits is critical to potential applications in the fields of spintronics and information processing. In topological insulators spin-orbit interaction and time-reversal-symmetry invariance guarantees - at least up to a certain disorder strength - that charge transport through 2D gapless Dirac surface states is robust against backscattering by non-magnetic disorder. Strong disorder may destroy topological protection and gap out Dirac surface states, although recent theories predict that under severe electronic disorder a quantized topological conductance might yet reemerge. Very strong electronic disorder, however, is not trivial to install and quantify, and topological matter under such conditions thus far has not been experimentally tested. This thesis addresses the behavior of three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) films in a wide range of structural and electronic disorder. We establish strong positional disorder in thin (20-50 nm) Sb2Te 3 films, free of extrinsic magnetic dopants. Sb 2Te3 is a known 2nd generation topological insulator in the low-disorder crystalline state. It is also a known phase-change material that undergoes insulator-to-metal transition with the concurrent orders of magnitude resistive drop, where a huge range of disorder could be controllably explored. In this work we show that even in the absence of magnetic dopants, disorder may induce spin correlations detrimental to the topological state. Chapter 1 contains a brief introduction to the topological matter and describes the role played by disorder. This is followed by theory considerations and a survey of prior experimental work. Next we describe the motivation for our experiments and explain the choice of the material. Chapter 2 describes deposition

  3. Spatially-protected Topology and Group Cohomology in Band Insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexandradinata, A.

    This thesis investigates band topologies which rely fundamentally on spatial symmetries. A basic geometric property that distinguishes spatial symmetry regards their transformation of the spatial origin. Point groups consist of spatial transformations that preserve the spatial origin, while un-split extensions of the point groups by spatial translations are referred to as nonsymmorphic space groups. The first part of the thesis addresses topological phases with discretely-robust surface properties: we introduce theories for the Cnv point groups, as well as certain nonsymmorphic groups that involve glide reflections. These band insulators admit a powerful characterization through the geometry of quasimomentum space; parallel transport in this space is represented by the Wilson loop. The non-symmorphic topology we study is naturally described by a further extension of the nonsymmorphic space group by quasimomentum translations (the Wilson loop), thus placing real and quasimomentum space on equal footing -- here, we introduce the language of group cohomology into the theory of band insulators. The second part of the thesis addresses topological phases without surface properties -- their only known physical consequences are discrete signatures in parallel transport. We provide two such case studies with spatial-inversion and discrete-rotational symmetries respectively. One lesson learned here regards the choice of parameter loops in which we carry out transport -- the loop must be chosen to exploit the symmetry that protects the topology. While straight loops are popular for their connection with the geometric theory of polarization, we show that bent loops also have utility in topological band theory.

  4. Quantum magnetotransport properties of ultrathin topological insulator films

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.

    2013-01-30

    We study the quantum magnetotransport in ultrathin topological insulator films in an external magnetic field considering hybridization between the upper and lower surfaces of the film. We investigate the two possible mechanisms for splitting of Landau levels, Zeeman and hybridization effects, and show that their interplay leads to minima in the collisional and Hall conductivities with a metal-to-insulator phase transition at the charge neutrality point. Hall plateaus arise at unusual multiples of e2/h . Evidence of a quantum phase transition for the zeroth and splitting of the higher Landau levels is found from the temperature and magnetic field dependences of the transport.

  5. Quantum magnetotransport properties of ultrathin topological insulator films

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.; Sabeeh, K.; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2013-01-01

    We study the quantum magnetotransport in ultrathin topological insulator films in an external magnetic field considering hybridization between the upper and lower surfaces of the film. We investigate the two possible mechanisms for splitting of Landau levels, Zeeman and hybridization effects, and show that their interplay leads to minima in the collisional and Hall conductivities with a metal-to-insulator phase transition at the charge neutrality point. Hall plateaus arise at unusual multiples of e2/h . Evidence of a quantum phase transition for the zeroth and splitting of the higher Landau levels is found from the temperature and magnetic field dependences of the transport.

  6. Vortex configuration in topological insulators from (1+3) Kaluza-Klein compactification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferreira, Cristine Nunes; Lima, Carlos Eduardo Campos; Helayel-Neto, Jose Abdalla; Paredes, Alfredo A.V.

    2011-01-01

    Full text: Quantum electrodynamics in (1+2)-D is a super-renormalizable gauge theory with some resemblance to four-dimensional theories whenever analyzed in the framework on an 1=N f -expansion. It is possible to show that, by using the fermionic sector of supersymmetric models that result from a (1+3)-D space-time upon compactification, there appears a U(2)-symmetry. We investigate the breakdown study of this symmetry by considering some specific sectors, such as the couplings and the vortex configurations that appear as particular solutions of the model. The construction and the study of models the QCD 3 -type can set up a new bridge of common interests between the condensed matter and high-energy physics communities. The point of view of the condensed matter also helps us to understand materials like graphene, whose description is associated to a massless Dirac equation or topological insulators. The latter, once coupled to vortex configurations, in the low-energy approximation, can generate a mass gap into the Dirac equation through the coupling with fermions. In this work, we consider a Kaluza-Klein compactification from a (1 + 3) supersymmetric model with the Maxwell-Chern-Simons term. The whole motivation behind this contribution is to consider the vortex configuration in (1+2)-D and its coupling to the fermionic sector of the model as a possible interpretation of the topological insulators. As the compactification mechanism adopted is the Kaluza-Klein reduction, we propose an interpretation of the Kaluza- Klein n-modes in connection with the vortices that may be formed in the surface of topological insulators. (author)

  7. Unconventional quantum Hall effect in Floquet topological insulators

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.

    2016-07-27

    We study an unconventional quantum Hall effect for the surface states of ultrathin Floquet topological insulators in a perpendicular magnetic field. The resulting band structure is modified by photon dressing and the topological property is governed by the low-energy dynamics of a single surface. An exchange of symmetric and antisymmetric surface states occurs by reversing the lights polarization. We find a novel quantum Hall state in which the zeroth Landau level undergoes a phase transition from a trivial insulator state, with Hall conductivity αyx = 0 at zero Fermi energy, to a Hall insulator state with αyx = e2/2h. These findings open new possibilities for experimentally realizing nontrivial quantum states and unusual quantum Hall plateaus at (±1/2,±3/2,±5/2, ...)e2/h. © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK.

  8. Unconventional quantum Hall effect in Floquet topological insulators

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.; Vasilopoulos, P.; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2016-01-01

    We study an unconventional quantum Hall effect for the surface states of ultrathin Floquet topological insulators in a perpendicular magnetic field. The resulting band structure is modified by photon dressing and the topological property is governed by the low-energy dynamics of a single surface. An exchange of symmetric and antisymmetric surface states occurs by reversing the lights polarization. We find a novel quantum Hall state in which the zeroth Landau level undergoes a phase transition from a trivial insulator state, with Hall conductivity αyx = 0 at zero Fermi energy, to a Hall insulator state with αyx = e2/2h. These findings open new possibilities for experimentally realizing nontrivial quantum states and unusual quantum Hall plateaus at (±1/2,±3/2,±5/2, ...)e2/h. © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK.

  9. Experimental verification of acoustic pseudospin multipoles in a symmetry-broken snowflakelike topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhiwang; Tian, Ye; Cheng, Ying; Liu, Xiaojun; Christensen, Johan

    2017-12-01

    Topologically protected wave engineering in artificially structured media resides at the frontier of ongoing metamaterials research, which is inspired by quantum mechanics. Acoustic analogs of electronic topological insulators have recently led to a wealth of new opportunities in manipulating sound propagation by means of robust edge mode excitations through analogies drawn to exotic quantum states. A variety of artificial acoustic systems hosting topological edge states have been proposed analogous to the quantum Hall effect, topological insulators, and Floquet topological insulators in electronic systems. However, those systems were characterized by a fixed geometry and a very narrow frequency response, which severely hinders the exploration and design of useful applications. Here we establish acoustic multipolar pseudospin states as an engineering degree of freedom in time-reversal invariant flow-free phononic crystals and develop reconfigurable topological insulators through rotation of their meta-atoms and reshaping of the metamolecules. Specifically, we show how rotation forms man-made snowflakelike molecules, whose topological phase mimics pseudospin-down (pseudospin-up) dipolar and quadrupolar states, which are responsible for a plethora of robust edge confined properties and topological controlled refraction disobeying Snell's law.

  10. Quantum magnetotransport for the surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators in the presence of a Zeeman field

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, Muhammad

    2013-05-01

    We show that the surface states of magnetic topological insulators realize an activated behavior and Shubnikov de Haas oscillations. Applying an external magnetic field perpendicular to the surface of the topological insulator in the presence of Zeeman interaction, we investigate the opening of a gap at the Dirac point, making the surface Dirac fermions massive, and the effects on the transport properties. Analytical expressions are derived for the collisional conductivity for elastic impurity scattering in the first Born approximation. We also calculate the Hall conductivity using the Kubo formalism. Evidence for a transition from gapless to gapped surface states at n = 0 and activated transport is found from the temperature and magnetic-field dependence of the collisional and Hall conductivities. © Copyright EPLA, 2013.

  11. Spin-dependent Peltier effect in 3D topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sengupta, Parijat; Kubis, Tillmann; Povolotskyi, Michael; Klimeck, Gerhard

    2013-03-01

    The Peltier effect represents the heat carrying capacity of a certain material when current passes through it. When two materials with different Peltier coefficients are placed together, the Peltier effect causes heat to flow either towards or away from the interface between them. This work utilizes the spin-polarized property of 3D topological insulator (TI) surface states to describe the transport of heat through the spin-up and spin-down channels. It has been observed that the spin channels are able to carry heat independently of each other. Spin currents can therefore be employed to supply or extract heat from an interface between materials with spin-dependent Peltier coefficients. The device is composed of a thin film of Bi2Se3 sandwiched between two layers of Bi2Te3. The thin film of Bi2Se3serves both as a normal and topological insulator. It is a normal insulator when its surfaces overlap to produce a finite band-gap. Using an external gate, Bi2Se3 film can be again tuned in to a TI. Sufficiently thick Bi2Te3 always retain TI behavior. Spin-dependent Peltier coefficients are obtained and the spin Nernst effect in TIs is shown by controlling the temperature gradient to convert charge current to spin current.

  12. Band structure of a three-dimensional topological insulator quantum wire in the presence of a magnetic field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhe; Jiang, Liwei; Zheng, Yisong

    2016-07-13

    By means of a numerical diagonalization approach, we calculate the electronic structure of a three-dimensional topological insulator (3DTI) quantum wire (QW) in the presence of a magnetic field. The QW can be viewed as a 3DTI film with lateral surfaces, when its rectangular cross section has a large aspect ratio. Our calculation indicates that nonchiral edge states emerge because of the confined states at the lateral surfaces. These states completely cover the valence band region among the Landau levels, which reasonably account for the absence of the [Formula: see text] quantum Hall effect in the relevant experimental works. In an ultrathin 3DTI film, inversion between the electron-type and hole-type bands occurs, which leads to the so-called pseudo-spin Hall effect. In a 3DTI QW with a square cross section, a tilting magnetic field can establish well-defined Landau levels in all four surfaces. In such a case, the quantum Hall edge states are localized at the square corners, characterized by the linearly crossing one-dimensional band profile. And they can be shifted between the adjacent corners by simply rotating the magnetic field.

  13. Probing Dirac fermion dynamics in topological insulator Bi2Se3 films with a scanning tunneling microscope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Can-Li; Wang, Lili; He, Ke; Ji, Shuai-Hua; Chen, Xi; Ma, Xu-Cun; Xue, Qi-Kun

    2015-05-01

    Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy have been used to investigate the femtosecond dynamics of Dirac fermions in the topological insulator Bi2Se3 ultrathin films. At the two-dimensional limit, bulk electrons become quantized and the quantization can be controlled by the film thickness at a single quintuple layer level. By studying the spatial decay of standing waves (quasiparticle interference patterns) off steps, we measure directly the energy and film thickness dependence of the phase relaxation length lϕ and inelastic scattering lifetime τ of topological surface-state electrons. We find that τ exhibits a remarkable (E - EF)(-2) energy dependence and increases with film thickness. We show that the features revealed are typical for electron-electron scattering between surface and bulk states.

  14. Buckled two-dimensional Xene sheets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molle, Alessandro; Goldberger, Joshua; Houssa, Michel; Xu, Yong; Zhang, Shou-Cheng; Akinwande, Deji

    2017-02-01

    Silicene, germanene and stanene are part of a monoelemental class of two-dimensional (2D) crystals termed 2D-Xenes (X = Si, Ge, Sn and so on) which, together with their ligand-functionalized derivatives referred to as Xanes, are comprised of group IVA atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice - similar to graphene but with varying degrees of buckling. Their electronic structure ranges from trivial insulators, to semiconductors with tunable gaps, to semi-metallic, depending on the substrate, chemical functionalization and strain. More than a dozen different topological insulator states are predicted to emerge, including the quantum spin Hall state at room temperature, which, if realized, would enable new classes of nanoelectronic and spintronic devices, such as the topological field-effect transistor. The electronic structure can be tuned, for example, by changing the group IVA element, the degree of spin-orbit coupling, the functionalization chemistry or the substrate, making the 2D-Xene systems promising multifunctional 2D materials for nanotechnology. This Perspective highlights the current state of the art and future opportunities in the manipulation and stability of these materials, their functions and applications, and novel device concepts.

  15. Spin current in an electron waveguide tunnel-coupled to a topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sukhanov, Aleksei A; Sablikov, Vladimir A

    2012-01-01

    We show that electron tunneling from edge states in a two-dimensional topological insulator into a parallel electron waveguide leads to the appearance of spin-polarized current in the waveguide. The spin polarization P can be very close to unity and the electron current passing through the tunnel contact splits in the waveguide into two branches flowing from the contact. The polarization essentially depends on the electron scattering by the contact and the electron-electron interaction in the one-dimensional edge states. The electron-electron interaction is treated within the Luttinger liquid model. The main effect of the interaction stems from the renormalization of the electron velocity, due to which the polarization increases with the interaction strength. Electron scattering by the contact leads to a decrease in P. A specific effect occurs when the bottom of the subbands in the waveguide crosses the Dirac point of the spectrum of edge states when changing the voltage or chemical potential. This leads to changing the direction of the spin current.

  16. Pseudogap and Fermi-Surface Topology in the Two-Dimensional Hubbard Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Wei; Scheurer, Mathias S.; Chatterjee, Shubhayu; Sachdev, Subir; Georges, Antoine; Ferrero, Michel

    2018-04-01

    One of the distinctive features of hole-doped cuprate superconductors is the onset of a "pseudogap" below a temperature T* . Recent experiments suggest that there may be a connection between the existence of the pseudogap and the topology of the Fermi surface. Here, we address this issue by studying the two-dimensional Hubbard model with two distinct numerical methods. We find that the pseudogap only exists when the Fermi surface is holelike and that, for a broad range of parameters, its opening is concomitant with a Fermi-surface topology change from electronlike to holelike. We identify a common link between these observations: The polelike feature of the electronic self-energy associated with the formation of the pseudogap is found to also control the degree of particle-hole asymmetry, and hence the Fermi-surface topology transition. We interpret our results in the framework of an SU(2) gauge theory of fluctuating antiferromagnetism. We show that a mean-field treatment of this theory in a metallic state with U(1) topological order provides an explanation of this polelike feature and a good description of our numerical results. We discuss the relevance of our results to experiments on cuprates.

  17. The non-commutative topology of two-dimensional dirty superconductors

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Nittis, Giuseppe; Schulz-Baldes, Hermann

    2018-01-01

    Non-commutative analysis tools have successfully been applied to the integer quantum Hall effect, in particular for a proof of the stability of the Hall conductance in an Anderson localization regime and of the bulk-boundary correspondence. In this work, these techniques are implemented to study two-dimensional dirty superconductors described by Bogoliubov-de Gennes Hamiltonians. After a thorough presentation of the basic framework and the topological invariants, Kubo formulas for the thermal, thermoelectric and spin Hall conductance are analyzed together with the corresponding edge currents.

  18. A computational non-commutative geometry program for disordered topological insulators

    CERN Document Server

    Prodan, Emil

    2017-01-01

    This work presents a computational program based on the principles of non-commutative geometry and showcases several applications to topological insulators. Noncommutative geometry has been originally proposed by Jean Bellissard as a theoretical framework for the investigation of homogeneous condensed matter systems. Recently, this approach has been successfully applied to topological insulators, where it facilitated many rigorous results concerning the stability of the topological invariants against disorder. In the first part of the book the notion of a homogeneous material is introduced and the class of disordered crystals defined together with the classification table, which conjectures all topological phases from this class. The manuscript continues with a discussion of electrons’ dynamics in disordered crystals and the theory of topological invariants in the presence of strong disorder is briefly reviewed. It is shown how all this can be captured in the language of noncommutative geometry using the co...

  19. Chemical Gating of a Weak Topological Insulator: Bi14Rh3I9.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghimire, Madhav Prasad; Richter, Manuel

    2017-10-11

    The compound Bi 14 Rh 3 I 9 has recently been suggested as a weak three-dimensional topological insulator on the basis of angle-resolved photoemission and scanning-tunneling experiments in combination with density functional (DF) electronic structure calculations. These methods unanimously support the topological character of the headline compound, but a compelling confirmation could only be obtained by dedicated transport experiments. The latter, however, are biased by an intrinsic n-doping of the material's surface due to its polarity. Electronic reconstruction of the polar surface shifts the topological gap below the Fermi energy, which would also prevent any future device application. Here, we report the results of DF slab calculations for chemically gated and counter-doped surfaces of Bi 14 Rh 3 I 9 . We demonstrate that both methods can be used to compensate the surface polarity without closing the electronic gap.

  20. Unravelling the local structure of topological crystalline insulators using hyperfine interactions

    CERN Multimedia

    Phenomena emerging from relativistic electrons in solids have become one the main topical subjects in condensed matter physics. Among a wealth of intriguing new phenomena, several classes of materials have emerged including graphene, topological insulators and Dirac semi-metals. This project is devoted to one such class of materials, in which a subtle distortion of the crystalline lattice drives a material through different topological phases: Z$_{2}$ topological insulator (Z$_{2}$-TI), topological crystalline insulator (TCI), or ferroelectric Rashba semiconductor (FERS). We propose to investigate the local structure of Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$Te and Ge$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$Te (with $\\textit{x}$ from 0 to 1) using a combination of experimental techniques based on hyperfine interactions: emission Mössbauer spectroscopy (eMS) and perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC). In particular, we propose to study the effect of composition ($\\textit{x}$ in Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$Te and Ge$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$Te) on: \\\\ \\\\(1) the mag...

  1. Status of surface conduction in topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barua, Sourabh; Rajeev, K. P.

    2014-01-01

    In this report, we scrutinize the thickness dependent resistivity data from the recent literature on electrical transport measurements in topological insulators. A linear increase in resistivity with increase in thickness is expected in the case of these materials since they have an insulating bulk and a conducting surface. However, such a trend is not seen in the resistivity versus thickness data for all the cases examined, except for some samples, where it holds for a range of thickness

  2. In-surface confinement of topological insulator nanowire surface states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Fan W.; Jauregui, Luis A.; Tan, Yaohua; Manfra, Michael; Klimeck, Gerhard; Chen, Yong P.; Kubis, Tillmann

    2015-01-01

    The bandstructures of [110] and [001] Bi 2 Te 3 nanowires are solved with the atomistic 20 band tight binding functionality of NEMO5. The theoretical results reveal: The popular assumption that all topological insulator (TI) wire surfaces are equivalent is inappropriate. The Fermi velocity of chemically distinct wire surfaces differs significantly which creates an effective in-surface confinement potential. As a result, topological insulator surface states prefer specific surfaces. Therefore, experiments have to be designed carefully not to probe surfaces unfavorable to the surface states (low density of states) and thereby be insensitive to the TI-effects

  3. In-surface confinement of topological insulator nanowire surface states

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Fan W., E-mail: fanchen@purdue.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Network for Computational Nanotechnology, Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Jauregui, Luis A. [School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Tan, Yaohua [Network for Computational Nanotechnology, Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Manfra, Michael [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Klimeck, Gerhard [Network for Computational Nanotechnology, Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Chen, Yong P. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States); Kubis, Tillmann [Network for Computational Nanotechnology, Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States)

    2015-09-21

    The bandstructures of [110] and [001] Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} nanowires are solved with the atomistic 20 band tight binding functionality of NEMO5. The theoretical results reveal: The popular assumption that all topological insulator (TI) wire surfaces are equivalent is inappropriate. The Fermi velocity of chemically distinct wire surfaces differs significantly which creates an effective in-surface confinement potential. As a result, topological insulator surface states prefer specific surfaces. Therefore, experiments have to be designed carefully not to probe surfaces unfavorable to the surface states (low density of states) and thereby be insensitive to the TI-effects.

  4. In-surface confinement of topological insulator nanowire surface states

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Fan W.; Jauregui, Luis A.; Tan, Yaohua; Manfra, Michael; Klimeck, Gerhard; Chen, Yong P.; Kubis, Tillmann

    2015-09-01

    The bandstructures of [110] and [001] Bi2Te3 nanowires are solved with the atomistic 20 band tight binding functionality of NEMO5. The theoretical results reveal: The popular assumption that all topological insulator (TI) wire surfaces are equivalent is inappropriate. The Fermi velocity of chemically distinct wire surfaces differs significantly which creates an effective in-surface confinement potential. As a result, topological insulator surface states prefer specific surfaces. Therefore, experiments have to be designed carefully not to probe surfaces unfavorable to the surface states (low density of states) and thereby be insensitive to the TI-effects.

  5. Spintronics Based on Topological Insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Yabin; Wang, Kang L.

    2016-10-01

    Spintronics using topological insulators (TIs) as strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) materials have emerged and shown rapid progress in the past few years. Different from traditional heavy metals, TIs exhibit very strong SOC and nontrivial topological surface states that originate in the bulk band topology order, which can provide very efficient means to manipulate adjacent magnetic materials when passing a charge current through them. In this paper, we review the recent progress in the TI-based magnetic spintronics research field. In particular, we focus on the spin-orbit torque (SOT)-induced magnetization switching in the magnetic TI structures, spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) measurements in the TI/ferromagnet structures, spin pumping and spin injection effects in the TI/magnet structures, as well as the electrical detection of the surface spin-polarized current in TIs. Finally, we discuss the challenges and opportunities in the TI-based spintronics field and its potential applications in ultralow power dissipation spintronic memory and logic devices.

  6. Pseudo-time-reversal symmetry and topological edge states in two-dimensional acoustic crystals

    KAUST Repository

    Mei, Jun

    2016-09-02

    We propose a simple two-dimensional acoustic crystal to realize topologically protected edge states for acoustic waves. The acoustic crystal is composed of a triangular array of core-shell cylinders embedded in a water host. By utilizing the point group symmetry of two doubly degenerate eigenstates at the Î

  7. Pseudo-time-reversal symmetry and topological edge states in two-dimensional acoustic crystals

    KAUST Repository

    Mei, Jun; Chen, Zeguo; Wu, Ying

    2016-01-01

    We propose a simple two-dimensional acoustic crystal to realize topologically protected edge states for acoustic waves. The acoustic crystal is composed of a triangular array of core-shell cylinders embedded in a water host. By utilizing the point group symmetry of two doubly degenerate eigenstates at the Î

  8. Room temperature giant and linear magnetoresistance in topological insulator Bi2Te3 nanosheets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaolin; Du, Yi; Dou, Shixue; Zhang, Chao

    2012-06-29

    Topological insulators, a new class of condensed matter having bulk insulating states and gapless metallic surface states, have demonstrated fascinating quantum effects. However, the potential practical applications of the topological insulators are still under exploration worldwide. We demonstrate that nanosheets of a Bi(2)Te(3) topological insulator several quintuple layers thick display giant and linear magnetoresistance. The giant and linear magnetoresistance achieved is as high as over 600% at room temperature, with a trend towards further increase at higher temperatures, as well as being weakly temperature-dependent and linear with the field, without any sign of saturation at measured fields up to 13 T. Furthermore, we observed a magnetic field induced gap below 10 K. The observation of giant and linear magnetoresistance paves the way for 3D topological insulators to be useful for practical applications in magnetoelectronic sensors such as disk reading heads, mechatronics, and other multifunctional electromagnetic applications.

  9. Topology of two-dimensional turbulent flows of dust and gas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitra, Dhrubaditya; Perlekar, Prasad

    2018-04-01

    We perform direct numerical simulations (DNS) of passive heavy inertial particles (dust) in homogeneous and isotropic two-dimensional turbulent flows (gas) for a range of Stokes number, StDNS confirms that the statistics of topological properties of B are the same in Eulerian and Lagrangian frames only if the Eulerian data are weighed by the dust density. We use this correspondence to study the statistics of topological properties of A in the Lagrangian frame from our Eulerian simulations by calculating density-weighted probability distribution functions. We further find that in the Lagrangian frame, the mean value of the trace of A is negative and its magnitude increases with St approximately as exp(-C /St) with a constant C ≈0.1 . The statistical distribution of different topological structures that appear in the dust flow is different in Eulerian and Lagrangian (density-weighted Eulerian) cases, particularly for St close to unity. In both of these cases, for small St the topological structures have close to zero divergence and are either vortical (elliptic) or strain dominated (hyperbolic, saddle). As St increases, the contribution to negative divergence comes mostly from saddles and the contribution to positive divergence comes from both vortices and saddles. Compared to the Eulerian case, the Lagrangian (density-weighted Eulerian) case has less outward spirals and more converging saddles. Inward spirals are the least probable topological structures in both cases.

  10. Duo gating on a 3D topological insulator - independent tuning of both topological surface states

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chuan; de Ronde, Bob; Snelder, Marieke; Stehno, Martin; Huang, Yingkai; Golden, Mark; Brinkman, Alexander; ICE Team; IOP Collaboration

    ABSTRACT: Topological insulators are associated with a trove of exciting physics, such as the ability to host robust anyons, Majorana Bound States, which can be used for quantum computation. For future Majorana devices it is desirable to have the Fermi energy tuned as close as possible to the Dirac point of the topological surface state. Based on previous work on gating BSTS, we report the experimental progress towards gate-tuning of the top and bottom topological surface states of BiSbTeSe2 crystal flakes. When the Fermi level is moved across the Dirac point conduction is shown to change from electron dominated transport to hole dominated transport independently for either surface. In the high magnetic field, one can tune the system precisely between the different landau levels of both surfaces, thus a full gating map of the possible landau levels combination is established. In addition, we provide a simple capacitance model to explain the general hysteresis behaviors in topological insulator systems.

  11. Quasiparticle dynamics in reshaped helical Dirac cone of topological insulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miao, Lin; Wang, Z F; Ming, Wenmei; Yao, Meng-Yu; Wang, Meixiao; Yang, Fang; Song, Y R; Zhu, Fengfeng; Fedorov, Alexei V; Sun, Z; Gao, C L; Liu, Canhua; Xue, Qi-Kun; Liu, Chao-Xing; Liu, Feng; Qian, Dong; Jia, Jin-Feng

    2013-02-19

    Topological insulators and graphene present two unique classes of materials, which are characterized by spin-polarized (helical) and nonpolarized Dirac cone band structures, respectively. The importance of many-body interactions that renormalize the linear bands near Dirac point in graphene has been well recognized and attracted much recent attention. However, renormalization of the helical Dirac point has not been observed in topological insulators. Here, we report the experimental observation of the renormalized quasiparticle spectrum with a skewed Dirac cone in a single Bi bilayer grown on Bi(2)Te(3) substrate from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. First-principles band calculations indicate that the quasiparticle spectra are likely associated with the hybridization between the extrinsic substrate-induced Dirac states of Bi bilayer and the intrinsic surface Dirac states of Bi(2)Te(3) film at close energy proximity. Without such hybridization, only single-particle Dirac spectra are observed in a single Bi bilayer grown on Bi(2)Se(3), where the extrinsic Dirac states Bi bilayer and the intrinsic Dirac states of Bi(2)Se(3) are well separated in energy. The possible origins of many-body interactions are discussed. Our findings provide a means to manipulate topological surface states.

  12. Bulk contribution to magnetotransport properties of low-defect-density Bi2Te3 topological insulator thin films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ngabonziza, P.; Wang, Y.; Brinkman, A.

    2018-04-01

    An important challenge in the field of topological materials is to carefully disentangle the electronic transport contribution of the topological surface states from that of the bulk. For Bi2Te3 topological insulator samples, bulk single crystals and thin films exposed to air during fabrication processes are known to be bulk conducting, with the chemical potential in the bulk conduction band. For Bi2Te3 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy, we combine structural characterization (transmission electron microscopy), chemical surface analysis as function of time (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and magnetotransport analysis to understand the low defect density and record high bulk electron mobility once charge is doped into the bulk by surface degradation. Carrier densities and electronic mobilities extracted from the Hall effect and the quantum oscillations are consistent and reveal a large bulk carrier mobility. Because of the cylindrical shape of the bulk Fermi surface, the angle dependence of the bulk magnetoresistance oscillations is two dimensional in nature.

  13. Exotic topological insulator states and topological phase transitions in Sb2Se3-Bi2Se3 heterostructures

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Qianfan

    2012-03-27

    Topological insulator is a new state of matter attracting tremendous interest due to its gapless linear dispersion and spin momentum locking topological states located near the surface. Heterostructures, which have traditionally been powerful in controlling the electronic properties of semiconductor devices, are interesting for topological insulators. Here, we studied the spatial distribution of the topological state in Sb 2Se 3-Bi 2Se 3 heterostructures by first-principle simulation and discovered that an exotic topological state exists. Surprisingly, the state migrates from the nontrivial Bi 2Se 3 into the trivial Sb 2Se 3 region and spreads across the entire Sb 2Se 3 slab, extending beyond the concept of "surface" state while preserving all of the topological surface state characteristics. This unusual topological state arises from the coupling between different materials and the modification of electronic structure near Fermi energy. Our study demonstrates that heterostructures can open up opportunities for controlling the real-space distribution of the topological state and inducing quantum phase transitions between topologically trivial and nontrivial states. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

  14. Statistical Mechanics of the Geometric Control of Flow Topology in Two-Dimensional Turbulence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nadiga, Balasubramanya; Loxley, Peter

    2013-04-01

    We apply the principle of maximum entropy to two dimensional turbulence in a new fashion to predict the effect of geometry on flow topology. We consider two prototypical regimes of turbulence that lead to frequently observed self-organized coherent structures. Our theory predicts bistable behavior that exhibits hysteresis and large abrupt changes in flow topology in one regime; the other regime is predicted to exhibit monstable behavior with a continuous change of flow topology. The predictions are confirmed in fully nonlinear numerical simulations of the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation. These results suggest an explanation of the low frequency regime transitions that have been observed in the non-equilibrium setting of this problem. Following further development in the non-equilibrium context, we expect that insights developed in this problem should be useful in developing a better understanding of the phenomenon of low frequency regime transitions that is a pervasive feature of the weather and climate systems. Familiar occurrences of this phenomenon---wherein extreme and abrupt qualitative changes occur, seemingly randomly, after very long periods of apparent stability---include blocking in the extra-tropical winter atmosphere, the bimodality of the Kuroshio extension system, the Dansgaard-Oeschger events, and the glacial-interglacial transitions.

  15. Holographic entanglement entropy in two-order insulator/superconductor transitions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peng, Yan, E-mail: yanpengphy@163.com; Liu, Guohua

    2017-04-10

    We study holographic superconductor model with two orders in the five dimensional AdS soliton background away from the probe limit. We disclose properties of phase transitions mostly from the holographic topological entanglement entropy approach. Our results show that the entanglement entropy is useful in investigating transitions in this general model and in particular, there is a new type of first order phase transition in the insulator/superconductor system. We also give some qualitative understanding and obtain the analytical condition for this first order phase transition to occur. As a summary, we draw the complete phase diagram representing effects of the scalar charge on phase transitions.

  16. Absorption of surface acoustic waves by topological insulator thin films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, L. L.; Xu, W.

    2014-01-01

    We present a theoretical study on the absorption of the surface acoustic waves (SAWs) by Dirac electrons in topological insulator (TI) thin films (TITFs). We find that due to momentum and energy conservation laws, the absorption of the SAWs in TITFs can only be achieved via intra-band electronic transitions. The strong absorption can be observed up to sub-terahertz frequencies. With increasing temperature, the absorption intensity increases significantly and the cut-off frequency is blue-shifted. More interestingly, we find that the absorption of the SAWs by the TITFs can be markedly enhanced by the tunable subgap in the Dirac energy spectrum of the TI surface states. Such a subgap is absent in conventional two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) and in the gapless Dirac 2DEG such as graphene. This study is pertinent to the exploration of the acoustic properties of TIs and to potential application of TIs as tunable SAW devices working at hypersonic frequencies

  17. Dynamical topological invariant after a quantum quench

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chao; Li, Linhu; Chen, Shu

    2018-02-01

    We show how to define a dynamical topological invariant for one-dimensional two-band topological systems after a quantum quench. By analyzing general two-band models of topological insulators, we demonstrate that the reduced momentum-time manifold can be viewed as a series of submanifolds S2, and thus we are able to define a dynamical topological invariant on each of the spheres. We also unveil the intrinsic relation between the dynamical topological invariant and the difference in the topological invariant of the initial and final static Hamiltonian. By considering some concrete examples, we illustrate the calculation of the dynamical topological invariant and its geometrical meaning explicitly.

  18. Topological Phase Transition in Layered GaS and GaSe

    KAUST Repository

    Zhu, Zhiyong; Cheng, Yingchun; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2012-01-01

    By fully relativistic first principles calculations, we predict that appropriate strain engineering of layered GaX (X=S, Se) leads to a new class of three-dimensional topological insulators with an excitation gap of up to 135 meV. Our results provide a new perspective on the formation of three-dimensional topological insulators. Band inversion can be induced by strain only, without considering any spin-orbit coupling. The latter, however, is indispensable for the formation of local band gaps at the crossing points of the inverted bands. Our study indicates that three-dimensional topological insulators can also be realized in materials which comprise light elements only.

  19. Topological Phase Transition in Layered GaS and GaSe

    KAUST Repository

    Zhu, Zhiyong

    2012-06-29

    By fully relativistic first principles calculations, we predict that appropriate strain engineering of layered GaX (X=S, Se) leads to a new class of three-dimensional topological insulators with an excitation gap of up to 135 meV. Our results provide a new perspective on the formation of three-dimensional topological insulators. Band inversion can be induced by strain only, without considering any spin-orbit coupling. The latter, however, is indispensable for the formation of local band gaps at the crossing points of the inverted bands. Our study indicates that three-dimensional topological insulators can also be realized in materials which comprise light elements only.

  20. Non-commutative tools for topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prodan, Emil

    2010-01-01

    This paper reviews several analytic tools for the field of topological insulators, developed with the aid of non-commutative calculus and geometry. The set of tools includes bulk topological invariants defined directly in the thermodynamic limit and in the presence of disorder, whose robustness is shown to have nontrivial physical consequences for the bulk states. The set of tools also includes a general relation between the current of an observable and its edge index, a relation that can be used to investigate the robustness of the edge states against disorder. The paper focuses on the motivations behind creating such tools and on how to use them.

  1. Quantized Faraday and Kerr rotation and axion electrodynamics of a 3D topological insulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Liang; Salehi, M; Koirala, N; Moon, J; Oh, S; Armitage, N P

    2016-12-02

    Topological insulators have been proposed to be best characterized as bulk magnetoelectric materials that show response functions quantized in terms of fundamental physical constants. Here, we lower the chemical potential of three-dimensional (3D) Bi 2 Se 3 films to ~30 meV above the Dirac point and probe their low-energy electrodynamic response in the presence of magnetic fields with high-precision time-domain terahertz polarimetry. For fields higher than 5 tesla, we observed quantized Faraday and Kerr rotations, whereas the dc transport is still semiclassical. A nontrivial Berry's phase offset to these values gives evidence for axion electrodynamics and the topological magnetoelectric effect. The time structure used in these measurements allows a direct measure of the fine-structure constant based on a topological invariant of a solid-state system. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  2. Topological energy conversion through the bulk or the boundary of driven systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Yang; Refael, Gil

    2018-04-01

    Combining physical and synthetic dimensions allows a controllable realization and manipulation of high-dimensional topological states. In our work, we introduce two quasiperiodically driven one-dimensional systems which enable tunable topological energy conversion between different driving sources. Using three drives, we realize a four-dimensional quantum Hall state which allows energy conversion between two of the drives within the bulk of the one-dimensional system. With only two drives, we achieve energy conversion between the two at the edge of the chain. Both effects are a manifestation of the effective axion electrodynamics in a three-dimensional time-reversal-invariant topological insulator. Furthermore, we explore the effects of disorder and commensurability of the driving frequencies, and show the phenomena are robust. We propose two experimental platforms, based on semiconductor heterostructures and ultracold atoms in optical lattices, in order to observe the topological energy conversion.

  3. Global Anomaly Detection in Two-Dimensional Symmetry-Protected Topological Phases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bultinck, Nick; Vanhove, Robijn; Haegeman, Jutho; Verstraete, Frank

    2018-04-01

    Edge theories of symmetry-protected topological phases are well known to possess global symmetry anomalies. In this Letter we focus on two-dimensional bosonic phases protected by an on-site symmetry and analyze the corresponding edge anomalies in more detail. Physical interpretations of the anomaly in terms of an obstruction to orbifolding and constructing symmetry-preserving boundaries are connected to the cohomology classification of symmetry-protected phases in two dimensions. Using the tensor network and matrix product state formalism we numerically illustrate our arguments and discuss computational detection schemes to identify symmetry-protected order in a ground state wave function.

  4. Two-dimensional Topology of the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoyle, Fiona; Vogeley, Michael S.; Gott, J. Richard, III

    2002-05-01

    We study the topology of the publicly available data released by the Two Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey team (2dF GRS). The 2dF GRS data contain over 100,000 galaxy redshifts with a magnitude limit of bJ=19.45 and is the largest such survey to date. The data lie over a wide range of right ascension (75° strips) but only within a narrow range of declination (10° and 15° strips). This allows measurements of the two-dimensional genus to be made. We find that the genus curves of the north Galactic pole (NGP) and south Galactic pole (SGP) are slightly different. The NGP displays a slight meatball shift topology, whereas the SGP displays a bubble-like topology. The current SGP data also have a slightly higher genus amplitude. In both cases, a slight excess of overdense regions is found over underdense regions. We assess the significance of these features using mock catalogs drawn from the Virgo Consortium's Hubble volume ΛCDM z=0 simulation. We find that differences between the NGP and SGP genus curves are only significant at the 1 σ level. The average genus curve of the 2dF GRS agrees well with that extracted from the ΛCDM mock catalogs. We also use the simulations to assess how the current incompleteness of the survey (the strips are not completely filled in) affects the measurement of the genus and find that we are not sensitive to the geometry; there are enough data in the current sample to trace the isolated high- and low-density regions. We compare the amplitude of the 2dF GRS genus curve to the amplitude of the genus curve of a Gaussian random field that we construct to have the same power spectrum as the 2dF GRS. In previous three-dimensional analyses, it was found that the genus curve of observed samples was lower than the Gaussian random field curve, presumably because of high-order correlations present in the data. However, we find that the 2dF GRS genus curve has an amplitude that is slightly higher than that of the power-spectrum-matched Gaussian

  5. Bandgap modulation in photoexcited topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} via atomic displacements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hada, Masaki, E-mail: hadamasaki@okayama-u.ac.jp [Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530 (Japan); Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503 (Japan); PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi 332-0012 (Japan); Norimatsu, Katsura; Tsuruta, Tetsuya; Igarashi, Kyushiro; Kayanuma, Yosuke; Sasagawa, Takao; Nakamura, Kazutaka G. [Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8503 (Japan); Tanaka, Sei' ichi; Ishikawa, Tadahiko; Koshihara, Shin-ya [Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan); Keskin, Sercan [The Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, University of Hamburg, Hamburg 22761 (Germany); Miller, R. J. Dwayne [The Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, University of Hamburg, Hamburg 22761 (Germany); Departments of Chemistry and Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3H6 (Canada); Onda, Ken [PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi 332-0012 (Japan); Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8502 (Japan)

    2016-07-14

    The atomic and electronic dynamics in the topological insulator (TI) Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} under strong photoexcitation were characterized with time-resolved electron diffraction and time-resolved mid-infrared spectroscopy. Three-dimensional TIs characterized as bulk insulators with an electronic conduction surface band have shown a variety of exotic responses in terms of electronic transport when observed under conditions of applied pressure, magnetic field, or circularly polarized light. However, the atomic motions and their correlation between electronic systems in TIs under strong photoexcitation have not been explored. The artificial and transient modification of the electronic structures in TIs via photoinduced atomic motions represents a novel mechanism for providing a comparable level of bandgap control. The results of time-domain crystallography indicate that photoexcitation induces two-step atomic motions: first bismuth and then tellurium center-symmetric displacements. These atomic motions in Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} trigger 10% bulk bandgap narrowing, which is consistent with the time-resolved mid-infrared spectroscopy results.

  6. Specular Andreev reflection in thin films of topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majidi, Leyla; Asgari, Reza

    2016-05-01

    We theoretically reveal the possibility of specular Andreev reflection in a thin film topological insulator normal-superconductor (N/S) junction in the presence of a gate electric field. The probability of specular Andreev reflection increases with the electric field, and electron-hole conversion with unit efficiency happens in a wide experimentally accessible range of the electric field. We show that perfect specular Andreev reflection can occur for all angles of incidence with a particular excitation energy value. In addition, we find that the thermal conductance of the structure displays exponential dependence on the temperature. Our results reveal the potential of the proposed topological insulator thin-film-based N/S structure for the realization of intraband specular Andreev reflection.

  7. Transport of Dirac fermions on the surface of strong topological insulator and graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kundu, Arijit

    2012-06-14

    estimates covering the full temperature range are provided for the parameters of Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} which possibly can be verified by experiment. Afterwards, a theory of quantum transport and scattering by spatially localized static magnetic fields is developed in a unified way for the low energy Dirac Fermions on topological insulator and graphene. The employed model describes in a unified manner the effects of orbital magnetic fields, Zeeman and exchange fields in topological insulators, and the pseudo-magnetic fields caused by strain or defects in monolayer graphene. The general scattering theory is formulated, and for radially symmetric fields, the scattering amplitude and the total and transport cross sections are expressed in terms of phase shifts. As applications, I study ring-shaped magnetic fields. The Aharonov-Bohm geometry is also studied as a limit to the ring geometry. I also review the superconducting proximity effect on graphene and study resonant tunneling through a superconducting double barrier structure in graphene as a function of the system parameters. In this geometry, transmission resonances occur because of the formation of Andreev bound states. The evolution of the transport through this geometry as a function of the incident energy for various angles of incidence shows the damping of the resonance as normal reflection between the barriers increases. I also consider the phenomenon of quantum charge pumping of electrons in this geometry in the adiabatic limit. Quantum charge pumping can be achieved by modulating the amplitudes (Δ{sub 1} and Δ{sub 2}) of the gaps associated with the two superconducting strips. Because of transmission resonances in the Δ{sub 1} - Δ{sub 2} plane of parameter space, a large value of pumped charge is obtained when the pumping contour encloses the resonances. This is in sharp contrast to the case of charge pumping in a normal double barrier structure in graphene, where the pumped charge is very small, due to the

  8. Ambipolar field effect in the ternary topological insulator (BixSb1–x)2Te3 by composition tuning

    KAUST Repository

    Kong, Desheng

    2011-10-02

    Topological insulators exhibit a bulk energy gap and spin-polarized surface states that lead to unique electronic properties 1-9, with potential applications in spintronics and quantum information processing. However, transport measurements have typically been dominated by residual bulk charge carriers originating from crystal defects or environmental doping 10-12, and these mask the contribution of surface carriers to charge transport in these materials. Controlling bulk carriers in current topological insulator materials, such as the binary sesquichalcogenides Bi 2Te 3, Sb 2Te 3 and Bi 2Se 3, has been explored extensively by means of material doping 8,9,11 and electrical gating 13-16, but limited progress has been made to achieve nanostructures with low bulk conductivity for electronic device applications. Here we demonstrate that the ternary sesquichalcogenide (Bi xSb 1-x) 2Te 3 is a tunable topological insulator system. By tuning the ratio of bismuth to antimony, we are able to reduce the bulk carrier density by over two orders of magnitude, while maintaining the topological insulator properties. As a result, we observe a clear ambipolar gating effect in (Bi xSb 1-x) 2Te 3 nanoplate field-effect transistor devices, similar to that observed in graphene field-effect transistor devices 17. The manipulation of carrier type and density in topological insulator nanostructures demonstrated here paves the way for the implementation of topological insulators in nanoelectronics and spintronics. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

  9. Electronic transport in bismuth selenide in the topological insulator regime

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dohun

    The 3D topological insulators (TIs) have an insulating bulk but spin-momentum coupled metallic surface states stemming from band inversion due to strong spin-orbit interaction, whose existence is guaranteed by the topology of the band structure of the insulator. While the STI surface state has been studied spectroscopically by e.g. photoemission and scanned probes, transport experiments have failed to demonstrate clear signature of the STI due to high level of bulk conduction. In this thesis, I present experimental results on the transport properties of TI material Bi2Se3 in the absence of bulk conduction (TI regime), achieved by applying novel p-type doping methods. Field effect transistors consisting of thin (thickness: 5-17 nm) Bi2Se3 are fabricated by mechanical exfoliation of single crystals, and a combination of conventional dielectric (300 nm thick SiO2) and electrochemical or chemical gating methods are used to move the Fermi energy through the surface Dirac point inside bulk band gap, revealing the ambipolar gapless nature of transport in the Bi2Se3 surface states. The minimum conductivity of the topological surface state is understood within the self-consistent theory of Dirac electrons in the presence of charged impurities. The intrinsic finite-temperature resistivity of the topological surface state due to electron-acoustic phonon scattering is measured to be 60 times larger than that of graphene largely due to the smaller Fermi and sound velocities in Bi2Se 3, which will have implications for topological electronic devices operating at room temperature. Along with semi-classical Boltzmann transport, I also discuss 2D weak anti-localization (WAL) behavior of the topological surface states. By investigating gate-tuned WAL behavior in thin (5-17 nm) TI films, I show that WAL in the TI regime is extraordinarily sensitive to the hybridization induced quantum mechanical tunneling between top and bottom topological surfaces, and interplay of phase coherence

  10. Giant magneto-optical Kerr effect and universal Faraday effect in thin-film topological insulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tse, Wang-Kong; MacDonald, A H

    2010-07-30

    Topological insulators can exhibit strong magneto-electric effects when their time-reversal symmetry is broken. In this Letter we consider the magneto-optical Kerr and Faraday effects of a topological insulator thin film weakly exchange coupled to a ferromagnet. We find that its Faraday rotation has a universal value at low frequencies θF=tan(-1)α, where α is the vacuum fine structure constant, and that it has a giant Kerr rotation θK=π/2. These properties follow from a delicate interplay between thin-film cavity confinement and the surface Hall conductivity of a topological insulator's helical quasiparticles.

  11. Topology vs. Anderson localization: non-perturbative solutions in one dimension

    OpenAIRE

    Altland, Alexander; Bagrets, Dmitry; Kamenev, Alex

    2014-01-01

    We present an analytic theory of quantum criticality in quasi one-dimensional topological Anderson insulators. We describe these systems in terms of two parameters $(g,\\chi)$ representing localization and topological properties, respectively. Certain critical values of $\\chi$ (half-integer for $\\Bbb{Z}$ classes, or zero for $\\Bbb{Z}_2$ classes) define phase boundaries between distinct topological sectors. Upon increasing system size, the two parameters exhibit flow similar to the celebrated t...

  12. Proximity induced ferromagnetism, superconductivity, and finite-size effects on the surface states of topological insulator nanostructures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sengupta, Parijat; Kubis, Tillmann; Tan, Yaohua; Klimeck, Gerhard

    2015-01-01

    Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 are well known 3D-topological insulators (TI). Films made of these materials exhibit metal-like surface states with a Dirac dispersion and possess high mobility. The high mobility metal-like surface states can serve as building blocks for a variety of applications that involve tuning their dispersion relationship and opening a band gap. A band gap can be opened either by breaking time reversal symmetry, the proximity effect of a superconductor or ferromagnet or adjusting the dimensionality of the TI material. In this work, methods that can be employed to easily open a band gap for the TI surface states are assessed. Two approaches are described: (1) Coating the surface states with a ferromagnet which has a controllable magnetization axis. The magnetization strength of the ferromagnet is incorporated as an exchange interaction term in the Hamiltonian. (2) An s-wave superconductor, because of the proximity effect, when coupled to a 3D-TI opens a band gap on the surface. Finally, the hybridization of the surface Dirac cones can be controlled by reducing the thickness of the topological insulator film. It is shown that this alters the band gap significantly.

  13. Supergravity and the knitting of the Kalb-Ramond two-form in eight-dimensional topological gravity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baulieu, Laurent; Bellon, Marc; Tanzini, Alessandro

    2003-07-17

    Topological Euclidean gravity is built in eight dimensions for manifolds with Spin(7) subset of SO(8) holonomy. In a previous work, we considered the construction of an eight-dimensional topological theory describing the graviton and one graviphoton. Here we solve the question of determining a topological model for the combined system of a metric and a Kalb-Ramond two-form gauge field. We then recover the complete N=1, D=8 supergravity theory in a twisted form. We observe that the generalized self-duality conditions of our model correspond to the octonionic string equations.

  14. Topology versus Anderson localization: Nonperturbative solutions in one dimension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altland, Alexander; Bagrets, Dmitry; Kamenev, Alex

    2015-02-01

    We present an analytic theory of quantum criticality in quasi-one-dimensional topological Anderson insulators. We describe these systems in terms of two parameters (g ,χ ) representing localization and topological properties, respectively. Certain critical values of χ (half-integer for Z classes, or zero for Z2 classes) define phase boundaries between distinct topological sectors. Upon increasing system size, the two parameters exhibit flow similar to the celebrated two-parameter flow of the integer quantum Hall insulator. However, unlike the quantum Hall system, an exact analytical description of the entire phase diagram can be given in terms of the transfer-matrix solution of corresponding supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models. In Z2 classes we uncover a hidden supersymmetry, present at the quantum critical point.

  15. Bulk and boundary invariants for complex topological insulators from K-theory to physics

    CERN Document Server

    Prodan, Emil

    2016-01-01

    This monograph offers an overview of rigorous results on fermionic topological insulators from the complex classes, namely, those without symmetries or with just a chiral symmetry. Particular focus is on the stability of the topological invariants in the presence of strong disorder, on the interplay between the bulk and boundary invariants and on their dependence on magnetic fields. The first part presents motivating examples and the conjectures put forward by the physics community, together with a brief review of the experimental achievements. The second part develops an operator algebraic approach for the study of disordered topological insulators. This leads naturally to use analysis tools from K-theory and non-commutative geometry, such as cyclic cohomology, quantized calculus with Fredholm modules and index pairings. New results include a generalized Streda formula and a proof of the delocalized nature of surface states in topological insulators with non-trivial invariants. The concluding chapter connect...

  16. Dirac-Screening Stabilized Surface-State Transport in a Topological Insulator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Brüne

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available We report magnetotransport studies on a gated strained HgTe device. This material is a three-dimensional topological insulator and exclusively shows surface-state transport. Remarkably, the Landau-level dispersion and the accuracy of the Hall quantization remain unchanged over a wide density range (3×10^{11}  cm^{−2}topological surface states are contained. This steep potential originates from the specific screening properties of Dirac systems and causes the gate voltage to influence the position of the Dirac points rather than that of the Fermi level.

  17. Thermoelectric power and topological transitions in quasi-two-dimensional electronic systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanter, Ya.M.; Pantsulaya, A.V.; Varlamov, A.A.

    1991-05-01

    Electron-impurity relaxation time and the thermoelectric power (TEP) of quasi-two-dimensional electron gas are calculated. Two cases are discussed: the isotropic spectrum and the electronic topological transition (ETT) of the ''neck-breaking'' type. Methods of thermal diagramatic technique are used for the calculation. It is found that the TEP in the vicinity of the ETT greatly exceeds its background value. The results of experimental investigations of the TEP in the metal-oxide-semiconductor structures are compared with the predictions of the proposed theory. (author). 17 refs, 5 figs

  18. Insulator function and topological domain border strength scale with architectural protein occupancy

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Chromosome conformation capture studies suggest that eukaryotic genomes are organized into structures called topologically associating domains. The borders of these domains are highly enriched for architectural proteins with characterized roles in insulator function. However, a majority of architectural protein binding sites localize within topological domains, suggesting sites associated with domain borders represent a functionally different subclass of these regulatory elements. How topologically associating domains are established and what differentiates border-associated from non-border architectural protein binding sites remain unanswered questions. Results By mapping the genome-wide target sites for several Drosophila architectural proteins, including previously uncharacterized profiles for TFIIIC and SMC-containing condensin complexes, we uncover an extensive pattern of colocalization in which architectural proteins establish dense clusters at the borders of topological domains. Reporter-based enhancer-blocking insulator activity as well as endogenous domain border strength scale with the occupancy level of architectural protein binding sites, suggesting co-binding by architectural proteins underlies the functional potential of these loci. Analyses in mouse and human stem cells suggest that clustering of architectural proteins is a general feature of genome organization, and conserved architectural protein binding sites may underlie the tissue-invariant nature of topologically associating domains observed in mammals. Conclusions We identify a spectrum of architectural protein occupancy that scales with the topological structure of chromosomes and the regulatory potential of these elements. Whereas high occupancy architectural protein binding sites associate with robust partitioning of topologically associating domains and robust insulator function, low occupancy sites appear reserved for gene-specific regulation within topological domains. PMID

  19. Exotic topological insulator states and topological phase transitions in Sb2Se3-Bi2Se3 heterostructures

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, Qianfan; Zhang, Zhiyong; Zhu, Zhiyong; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo; Cui, Yi

    2012-01-01

    in controlling the electronic properties of semiconductor devices, are interesting for topological insulators. Here, we studied the spatial distribution of the topological state in Sb 2Se 3-Bi 2Se 3 heterostructures by first-principle simulation and discovered

  20. High-Resolution Faraday Rotation and Electron-Phonon Coupling in Surface States of the Bulk-Insulating Topological Insulator Cu_{0.02}Bi_{2}Se_{3}.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Liang; Tse, Wang-Kong; Brahlek, M; Morris, C M; Aguilar, R Valdés; Koirala, N; Oh, S; Armitage, N P

    2015-11-20

    We have utilized time-domain magnetoterahertz spectroscopy to investigate the low-frequency optical response of the topological insulator Cu_{0.02}Bi_{2}Se_{3} and Bi_{2}Se_{3} films. With both field and frequency dependence, such experiments give sufficient information to measure the mobility and carrier density of multiple conduction channels simultaneously. We observe sharp cyclotron resonances (CRs) in both materials. The small amount of Cu incorporated into the Cu_{0.02}Bi_{2}Se_{3} induces a true bulk insulator with only a single type of conduction with a total sheet carrier density of ~4.9×10^{12}/cm^{2} and mobility as high as 4000 cm^{2}/V·s. This is consistent with conduction from two virtually identical topological surface states (TSSs) on the top and bottom of the film with a chemical potential ~145 meV above the Dirac point and in the bulk gap. The CR broadens at high fields, an effect that we attribute to an electron-phonon interaction. This assignment is supported by an extended Drude model analysis of the zero-field Drude conductance. In contrast, in normal Bi_{2}Se_{3} films, two conduction channels were observed, and we developed a self-consistent analysis method to distinguish the dominant TSSs and coexisting trivial bulk or two-dimensional electron gas states. Our high-resolution Faraday rotation spectroscopy on Cu_{0.02}Bi_{2}Se_{3} paves the way for the observation of quantized Faraday rotation under experimentally achievable conditions to push the chemical potential in the lowest Landau level.

  1. Lattice formulation of a two-dimensional topological field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohta, Kazutoshi; Takimi, Tomohisa

    2007-01-01

    We investigate an integrable property and the observables of 2-dimensional N=(4,4) topological field theory defined on a discrete lattice by using the 'orbifolding' and 'deconstruction' methods. We show that our lattice model is integrable and, for this reason, the partition function reduces to matrix integrals of scalar fields on the lattice sites. We elucidate meaningful differences between a discrete lattice and a differentiable manifold. This is important for studying topological quantities on a lattice. We also propose a new construction of N=(2,2) supersymmetric lattice theory, which is realized through a suitable truncation of scalar fields from the N=(4,4) theory. (author)

  2. Electronic structure and transport on the surface of topological insulator attached to an electromagnetic superlattice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Haiyan; Chen Xiongwen; Zhou Xiaoying; Zhang Lebo; Zhou Guanghui

    2012-01-01

    We study the electronic structure and transport for Dirac electron on the surface of a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator attached to an electromagnetic superlattice. It is found that, by means of the transfer-matrix method, the number of electronic tunneling channels for magnetic barriers in antiparallel alignment is larger than that in parallel alignment, which stems to the energy band structures. Interestingly, a remarkable semiconducting transport behavior appears in this system with a strong magnetic barrier due to low energy band nearly paralleling to the Fermi level. Consequently, there is only small incident angle transport in the higher energy region when the system is modulated mainly by the higher electric barriers. We further find that the spatial distribution of the spin polarization oscillates periodically in the incoming region, but it is almost in-plane with a fixed direction in the transmitting region. The results may provide a further understanding of the nature of 3D TI surface states, and may be useful in the design of topological insulator-based electronic devices such as collimating electron beam.

  3. Streamline topologies near simple degenerate critical points in two-dimensional flow away from boundaries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brøns, Morten; Hartnack, Johan Nicolai

    1998-01-01

    Streamline patterns and their bifurcations in two-dimensional incompressible flow are investigated from a topological point of view. The velocity field is expanded at a point in the fluid, and the expansion coefficients are considered as bifurcation parameters. A series of non-linear coordinate c...

  4. Streamline topologies near simple degenerate critical points in two-dimensional flow away from boundaries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brøns, Morten; Hartnack, Johan Nicolai

    1999-01-01

    Streamline patterns and their bifurcations in two-dimensional incompressible flow are investigated from a topological point of view. The velocity field is expanded at a point in the fluid, and the expansion coefficients are considered as bifurcation parameters. A series of nonlinear coordinate ch...

  5. Phase Diagram of a Simple Model for Fractional Topological Insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hua; Yang, Kun

    2012-02-01

    We study a simple model of two species of (or spin-1/2) fermions with short-range intra-species repulsion in the presence of opposite (effetive) magnetic field, each at filling factor 1/3. In the absence of inter-species interaction, the ground state is simply two copies of the 1/3 Laughlin state, with opposite chirality. Due to the overall time-reversal symmetry, this is a fractional topological insulator. We show this phase is stable against moderate inter-species interactions. However strong enough inter-species repulsion leads to phase separation, while strong enough inter-species attraction drives the system into a superfluid phase. We obtain the phase diagram through exact diagonalization caluclations. Nature of the fractional topological insluator-superfluid phase transition is discussed using an appropriate Chern-Simons-Ginsburg-Landau effective field theory.

  6. Lagrangian statistics and flow topology in forced two-dimensional turbulence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kadoch, B; Del-Castillo-Negrete, D; Bos, W J T; Schneider, K

    2011-03-01

    A study of the relationship between Lagrangian statistics and flow topology in fluid turbulence is presented. The topology is characterized using the Weiss criterion, which provides a conceptually simple tool to partition the flow into topologically different regions: elliptic (vortex dominated), hyperbolic (deformation dominated), and intermediate (turbulent background). The flow corresponds to forced two-dimensional Navier-Stokes turbulence in doubly periodic and circular bounded domains, the latter with no-slip boundary conditions. In the double periodic domain, the probability density function (pdf) of the Weiss field exhibits a negative skewness consistent with the fact that in periodic domains the flow is dominated by coherent vortex structures. On the other hand, in the circular domain, the elliptic and hyperbolic regions seem to be statistically similar. We follow a Lagrangian approach and obtain the statistics by tracking large ensembles of passively advected tracers. The pdfs of residence time in the topologically different regions are computed introducing the Lagrangian Weiss field, i.e., the Weiss field computed along the particles' trajectories. In elliptic and hyperbolic regions, the pdfs of the residence time have self-similar algebraic decaying tails. In contrast, in the intermediate regions the pdf has exponential decaying tails. The conditional pdfs (with respect to the flow topology) of the Lagrangian velocity exhibit Gaussian-like behavior in the periodic and in the bounded domains. In contrast to the freely decaying turbulence case, the conditional pdfs of the Lagrangian acceleration in forced turbulence show a comparable level of intermittency in both the periodic and the bounded domains. The conditional pdfs of the Lagrangian curvature are characterized, in all cases, by self-similar power-law behavior with a decay exponent of order -2.

  7. Optical microcavities based on surface modes in two-dimensional photonic crystals and silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Xiao, Sanshui; Qiu, M.

    2007-01-01

    Surface-mode optical microcavities based on two-dimensional photonic crystals and silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals are studied. We demonstrate that a high-quality-factor microcavity can be easily realized in these structures. With an increasing of the cavity length, the quality factor is gr...... is gradually enhanced and the resonant frequency converges to that of the corresponding surface mode in the photonic crystals. These structures have potential applications such as sensing.......Surface-mode optical microcavities based on two-dimensional photonic crystals and silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals are studied. We demonstrate that a high-quality-factor microcavity can be easily realized in these structures. With an increasing of the cavity length, the quality factor...

  8. Transport on the surface of a topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vargiamidis, V.; Vasilopoulos, P.

    2014-01-01

    We study theoretically dc and ac transport on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator when its time-reversal symmetry is broken. Starting with a Kubo formula, we derive an explicit expression for the dc Hall conductivity, valid for finite temperatures. At zero temperature this expression gives the dc half-quantum Hall conductivity, provided the Fermi level lies in the gap. Corrections when the Fermi level is outside the gap and scattering by impurities are quantified. The longitudinal conductivity is also examined. At finite frequencies, we find a modified Drude term in σ xx (ω) and logarithmic, frequency-dependent corrections in σ yx (ω). The ac Hall conductivity exhibits a robust logarithmic singularity for excitation energies equal to the gapwidth. For these energies, we also find that the power spectrum, which is pertinent to optical experiments, exhibits drastic increase. The Hall conductivity remains almost unaffected for temperatures up to approximately 300 K

  9. Strain-enhanced optical absorbance of topological insulator films

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brems, Mathias Rosdahl; Paaske, Jens; Lunde, Anders Mathias

    2018-01-01

    Topological insulator films are promising materials for optoelectronics due to a strong optical absorption and a thickness-dependent band gap of the topological surface states. They are superior candidates for photodetector applications in the THz-infrared spectrum, with a potential performance...... thickness, the surface-state band gap, and thereby the optical absorption, can be effectively tuned by the application of uniaxial strain epsilon(zz), leading to a divergent band-edge absorbance for epsilon(zz) greater than or similar to 6%. Shear strain breaks the crystal symmetry and leads...

  10. Magnetic-field induced semimetal in topological crystalline insulator thin films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ezawa, Motohiko

    2015-01-01

    We investigate electromagnetic properties of a topological crystalline insulator (TCI) thin film under external electromagnetic fields. The TCI thin film is a topological insulator indexed by the mirror-Chern number. It is demonstrated that the gap closes together with the emergence of a pair of gapless cones carrying opposite chirarities by applying in-plane magnetic field. A pair of gapless points have opposite vortex numbers. This is a reminiscence of a pair of Weyl cones in 3D Weyl semimetal. We thus present an a magnetic-field induced semimetal–semiconductor transition in 2D material. This is a giant-magnetoresistance, where resistivity is controlled by magnetic field. Perpendicular electric field is found to shift the gapless points and also renormalize the Fermi velocity in the direction of the in-plane magnetic field. - Highlights: • The band structure of topological crystalline insulator thin films can be controlled by applying in-plane magnetic field. • At the gap closing magnetic field, a pair of gapless cones carrying opposite chirarities emerge. • A pair of gapless points have opposite vortex numbers. • This is a reminiscence of a pair of Weyl cones in 3D Weyl semimetal. • A magnetic-field induced semimetal–semiconductor transition occurs in 2D material

  11. Magnetic-field induced semimetal in topological crystalline insulator thin films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ezawa, Motohiko, E-mail: ezawa@ap.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

    2015-06-19

    We investigate electromagnetic properties of a topological crystalline insulator (TCI) thin film under external electromagnetic fields. The TCI thin film is a topological insulator indexed by the mirror-Chern number. It is demonstrated that the gap closes together with the emergence of a pair of gapless cones carrying opposite chirarities by applying in-plane magnetic field. A pair of gapless points have opposite vortex numbers. This is a reminiscence of a pair of Weyl cones in 3D Weyl semimetal. We thus present an a magnetic-field induced semimetal–semiconductor transition in 2D material. This is a giant-magnetoresistance, where resistivity is controlled by magnetic field. Perpendicular electric field is found to shift the gapless points and also renormalize the Fermi velocity in the direction of the in-plane magnetic field. - Highlights: • The band structure of topological crystalline insulator thin films can be controlled by applying in-plane magnetic field. • At the gap closing magnetic field, a pair of gapless cones carrying opposite chirarities emerge. • A pair of gapless points have opposite vortex numbers. • This is a reminiscence of a pair of Weyl cones in 3D Weyl semimetal. • A magnetic-field induced semimetal–semiconductor transition occurs in 2D material.

  12. Topological insulator materials and nanostructures for future electronics, spintronics and energy conversion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kantser, Valeriu

    2011-01-01

    Two fundamental electrons attributes in materials and nanostructures - charge and spin - determine their electronic properties. The processing of information in conventional electronic devices is based only on the charge of the electrons. Spin electronics, or spintronics, uses the spin of electrons, as well as their charge, to process information. Metals, semiconductors and insulators are the basic materials that constitute the components of electronic devices, and these have been transforming all aspects of society for over a century. In contrast, magnetic metals, half-metals, magnetic semiconductors, dilute magnetic semiconductors and magnetic insulators are the materials that will form the basis for spintronic devices. Materials with topological band structure attributes and having a zero-energy band gap surface states are a special class of these materials that exhibit some fascinating and superior electronic properties compared to conventional materials allowing to combine both charge and spin functionalities. This article reviews a range of topological insulator materials and nanostructures with tunable surface states, focusing on nanolayered and nanowire like structures. These materials and nanostructures all have intriguing physical properties and numerous potential practical applications in spintronics, electronics, optics and sensors.

  13. Acoustic topological insulator and robust one-way sound transport

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Cheng; Ni, Xu; Ge, Hao; Sun, Xiao-Chen; Chen, Yan-Bin; Lu, Ming-Hui; Liu, Xiao-Ping; Chen, Yan-Feng

    2016-12-01

    Topological design of materials enables topological symmetries and facilitates unique backscattering-immune wave transport. In airborne acoustics, however, the intrinsic longitudinal nature of sound polarization makes the use of the conventional spin-orbital interaction mechanism impossible for achieving band inversion. The topological gauge flux is then typically introduced with a moving background in theoretical models. Its practical implementation is a serious challenge, though, due to inherent dynamic instabilities and noise. Here we realize the inversion of acoustic energy bands at a double Dirac cone and provide an experimental demonstration of an acoustic topological insulator. By manipulating the hopping interaction of neighbouring ’atoms’ in this new topological material, we successfully demonstrate the acoustic quantum spin Hall effect, characterized by robust pseudospin-dependent one-way edge sound transport. Our results are promising for the exploration of new routes for experimentally studying topological phenomena and related applications, for example, sound-noise reduction.

  14. Time-reversal breaking and spin transport induced by magnetic impurities in a 2D topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Derakhshan, V; Ketabi, S A; Moghaddam, A G

    2016-01-01

    We employed the formalism of bond currents, expressed in terms of non-equilibrium Green’s function to obtain the local currents and transport features of zigzag silicene ribbon in the presence of magnetic impurity. When only intrinsic and Rashba spin–orbit interactions are present, silicene behaves as a two-dimensional topological insulator with gapless edge states. But in the presence of finite intrinsic spin–orbit interaction, the edge states start to penetrate into the bulk of the sample by increasing Rashba interaction strength. The exchange interaction induced by local impurities breaks the time-reversal symmetry of the gapless edge states and influences the topological properties strongly. Subsequently, the singularity of partial Berry curvature disappears and the silicene nanoribbon becomes a trivial insulator. On the other hand, when the concentration of the magnetic impurities is low, the edge currents are not affected significantly. In this case, when the exchange field lies in the x – y plane, the spin mixing around magnetic impurity is more profound rather than the case in which the exchange field is directed along the z -axis. Nevertheless, when the exchange field of magnetic impurities is placed in the x – y plane, a spin-polarized conductance is observed. The resulting conductance polarization can be tuned by the concentration of the impurities and even completely polarized spin transport is achievable. (paper)

  15. Effects of bulk charged impurities on the bulk and surface transport in three-dimensional topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Skinner, B.; Chen, T.; Shklovskii, B. I., E-mail: shklovsk@physics.spa.umn.edu [University of Minnesota, Fine Theoretical Physics Institute (United States)

    2013-09-15

    In the three-dimensional topological insulator (TI), the physics of doped semiconductors exists literally side-by-side with the physics of ultrarelativistic Dirac fermions. This unusual pairing creates a novel playground for studying the interplay between disorder and electronic transport. In this mini-review, we focus on the disorder caused by the three-dimensionally distributed charged impurities that are ubiquitous in TIs, and we outline the effects it has on both the bulk and surface transport in TIs. We present self-consistent theories for Coulomb screening both in the bulk and at the surface, discuss the magnitude of the disorder potential in each case, and present results for the conductivity. In the bulk, where the band gap leads to thermally activated transport, we show how disorder leads to a smaller-than-expected activation energy that gives way to variable-range hopping at low temperatures. We confirm this enhanced conductivity with numerical simulations that also allow us to explore different degrees of impurity compensation. For the surface, where the TI has gapless Dirac modes, we present a theory of disorder and screening of deep impurities, and we calculate the corresponding zero-temperature conductivity. We also comment on the growth of the disorder potential in passing from the surface of the TI into the bulk. Finally, we discuss how the presence of a gap at the Dirac point, introduced by some source of time-reversal symmetry breaking, affects the disorder potential at the surface and the mid-gap density of states.

  16. Effects of bulk charged impurities on the bulk and surface transport in three-dimensional topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skinner, B.; Chen, T.; Shklovskii, B. I.

    2013-01-01

    In the three-dimensional topological insulator (TI), the physics of doped semiconductors exists literally side-by-side with the physics of ultrarelativistic Dirac fermions. This unusual pairing creates a novel playground for studying the interplay between disorder and electronic transport. In this mini-review, we focus on the disorder caused by the three-dimensionally distributed charged impurities that are ubiquitous in TIs, and we outline the effects it has on both the bulk and surface transport in TIs. We present self-consistent theories for Coulomb screening both in the bulk and at the surface, discuss the magnitude of the disorder potential in each case, and present results for the conductivity. In the bulk, where the band gap leads to thermally activated transport, we show how disorder leads to a smaller-than-expected activation energy that gives way to variable-range hopping at low temperatures. We confirm this enhanced conductivity with numerical simulations that also allow us to explore different degrees of impurity compensation. For the surface, where the TI has gapless Dirac modes, we present a theory of disorder and screening of deep impurities, and we calculate the corresponding zero-temperature conductivity. We also comment on the growth of the disorder potential in passing from the surface of the TI into the bulk. Finally, we discuss how the presence of a gap at the Dirac point, introduced by some source of time-reversal symmetry breaking, affects the disorder potential at the surface and the mid-gap density of states

  17. Two-dimensional Topology of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoyle, Fiona; Vogeley, Michael S.; Gott, J. Richard, III; Blanton, Michael; Tegmark, Max; Weinberg, David H.; Bahcall, N.; Brinkmann, J.; York, D.

    2002-12-01

    We present the topology of a volume-limited sample of 11,884 galaxies, selected from an apparent magnitude limited sample of over 100,000 galaxies observed as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The data currently cover three main regions on the sky: one in the Galactic north and one in the south, both at zero degrees declination, and one area in the north at higher declination. Each of these areas covers a wide range of survey longitude but a narrow range of survey latitude, allowing the two-dimensional genus to be measured. The genus curves of the SDSS subsamples are similar, after appropriately normalizing these measurements for the different areas. We sum the genus curves from the three areas to obtain the total genus curve of the SDSS. The total curve has a shape similar to the genus curve derived from mock catalogs drawn from the Hubble volume ΛCDM simulation and is similar to that of a Gaussian random field. Likewise, comparison with the genus of the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey, after normalization for the difference in area, reveals remarkable similarity in the topology of these samples. We test for the effects of galaxy-type segregation by splitting the SDSS data into thirds, based on the u*-r* colors of the galaxies, and measure the genus of the reddest and bluest subsamples. This red/blue split in u*-r* is essentially a split by morphology, as explained by Strateva and coworkers. We find that the genus curve for the reddest galaxies exhibits a ``meatball'' shift of the topology-reflecting the concentration of red galaxies in high-density regions-compared to the bluest galaxies and the full sample, in agreement with predictions from simulations.

  18. Tunable Majorana corner states in a two-dimensional second-order topological superconductor induced by magnetic fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Xiaoyu

    2018-05-01

    A two-dimensional second-order topological superconductor exhibits a finite gap in both bulk and edges, with the nontrivial topology manifesting itself through Majorana zero modes localized at the corners, i.e., Majorana corner states. We investigate a time-reversal-invariant topological superconductor in two dimensions and demonstrate that an in-plane magnetic field could transform it into a second-order topological superconductor. A detailed analysis reveals that the magnetic field gives rise to mass terms which take distinct values among the edges, and Majorana corner states naturally emerge at the intersection of two adjacent edges with opposite masses. With the rotation of the magnetic field, Majorana corner states localized around the boundary may hop from one corner to a neighboring one and eventually make a full circle around the system when the field rotates by 2 π . In the end, we briefly discuss physical realizations of this system.

  19. Pair creation, motion, and annihilation of topological defects in two-dimensional nematic liquid crystals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortese, Dario; Eggers, Jens; Liverpool, Tanniemola B.

    2018-02-01

    We present a framework for the study of disclinations in two-dimensional active nematic liquid crystals and topological defects in general. The order tensor formalism is used to calculate exact multiparticle solutions of the linearized static equations inside a planar uniformly aligned state so that the total charge has to vanish. Topological charge conservation then requires that there is always an equal number of q =1 /2 and q =-1 /2 charges. Starting from a set of hydrodynamic equations, we derive a low-dimensional dynamical system for the parameters of the static solutions, which describes the motion of a half-disclination pair or of several pairs. Within this formalism, we model defect production and annihilation, as observed in experiments. Our dynamics also provide an estimate for the critical density at which production and annihilation rates are balanced.

  20. Intrinsic optical conductivity of a {{\\rm{C}}}_{2v} symmetric topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sengupta, Parijat; Matsubara, Masahiko; Bellotti, Enrico; Shi, Junxia

    2017-07-01

    In this work we analytically investigate the longitudinal optical conductivity of the {{{C}}}2v symmetric topological insulator. The conductivity expressions at T = 0 are derived using the Kubo formula and expressed as a function of the ratio of the Dresselhaus and Rashba parameters that characterize the low-energy Hamiltonian. We find that the longitudinal inter-band conductivity vanishes when Dresselhaus and Rashba parameters are equal in strength, also called the persistent spin helix state. The calculations are extended to obtain the frequency-dependent real and imaginary components of the optical conductivity for the topological Kondo insulator SmB6 which exhibits {{{C}}}2v symmetric and anisotropic Dirac cones hosting topological states at \\overline{X} point on the surface Brillouin zone.

  1. Band inversion mechanism in topological insulators: A guideline for materials design

    KAUST Repository

    Zhu, Zhiyong; Cheng, Yingchun; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2012-01-01

    Alteration of the topological order by band inversion is a key ingredient of a topologically nontrivial material. Using first-principles calculations for HgTe, PtScBi, and Bi2Se3, we argue that it is not accurate to ascribe the band inversion to the spin-orbit coupling. Instead, scalar relativistic effects and/or lattice distortions are found to be essential. Therefore, the search for topologically nontrivial materials should focus on band shifts due to these mechanisms rather than spin-orbit coupling. We propose an effective scheme to search for new topological insulators.

  2. Band inversion mechanism in topological insulators: A guideline for materials design

    KAUST Repository

    Zhu, Zhiyong

    2012-06-01

    Alteration of the topological order by band inversion is a key ingredient of a topologically nontrivial material. Using first-principles calculations for HgTe, PtScBi, and Bi2Se3, we argue that it is not accurate to ascribe the band inversion to the spin-orbit coupling. Instead, scalar relativistic effects and/or lattice distortions are found to be essential. Therefore, the search for topologically nontrivial materials should focus on band shifts due to these mechanisms rather than spin-orbit coupling. We propose an effective scheme to search for new topological insulators.

  3. Topological Magnon Bands in a Kagome Lattice Ferromagnet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chisnell, R; Helton, J S; Freedman, D E; Singh, D K; Bewley, R I; Nocera, D G; Lee, Y S

    2015-10-02

    There is great interest in finding materials possessing quasiparticles with topological properties. Such materials may have novel excitations that exist on their boundaries which are protected against disorder. We report experimental evidence that magnons in an insulating kagome ferromagnet can have a topological band structure. Our neutron scattering measurements further reveal that one of the bands is flat due to the unique geometry of the kagome lattice. Spin wave calculations show that the measured band structure follows from a simple Heisenberg Hamiltonian with a Dzyaloshinkii-Moriya interaction. This serves as the first realization of an effectively two-dimensional topological magnon insulator--a new class of magnetic material that should display both a magnon Hall effect and protected chiral edge modes.

  4. Metallic Interface Emerging at Magnetic Domain Wall of Antiferromagnetic Insulator: Fate of Extinct Weyl Electrons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Youhei Yamaji

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Topological insulators, in contrast to ordinary semiconductors, accompany protected metallic surfaces described by Dirac-type fermions. Here, we theoretically show that another emergent two-dimensional metal embedded in the bulk insulator is realized at a magnetic domain wall. The domain wall has long been studied as an ingredient of both old-fashioned and leading-edge spintronics. The domain wall here, as an interface of seemingly trivial antiferromagnetic insulators, emergently realizes a functional interface preserved by zero modes with robust two-dimensional Fermi surfaces, where pyrochlore iridium oxides proposed to host the condensed-matter realization of Weyl fermions offer such examples at low temperatures. The existence of in-gap states that are pinned at domain walls, theoretically resembling spin or charge solitons in polyacetylene, and protected as the edges of hidden one-dimensional weak Chern insulators characterized by a zero-dimensional class-A topological invariant, solves experimental puzzles observed in R_{2}Ir_{2}O_{7} with rare-earth elements R. The domain wall realizes a novel quantum confinement of electrons and embosses a net uniform magnetization that enables magnetic control of electronic interface transports beyond the semiconductor paradigm.

  5. A time-reversal invariant topological phase at the surface of a 3D topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonderson, Parsa; Nayak, Chetan; Qi, Xiao-Liang

    2013-01-01

    A 3D fermionic topological insulator has a gapless Dirac surface state protected by time-reversal symmetry and charge conservation symmetry. The surface state can be gapped by introducing ferromagnetism to break time-reversal symmetry, introducing superconductivity to break charge conservation, or entering a topological phase. In this paper, we construct a minimal gapped topological phase that preserves both time-reversal and charge conservation symmetries and supports Ising-type non-Abelian anyons. This phase can be understood heuristically as emerging from a surface s-wave superconducting state via the condensation of eight-vortex composites. The topological phase inherits vortices supporting Majorana zero modes from the surface superconducting state. However, since it is time-reversal invariant, the surface topological phase is a distinct phase from the Ising topological phase, which can be viewed as a quantum-disordered spin-polarized p x + ip y superconductor. We discuss the anyon model of this topological phase and the manner in which time-reversal symmetry is realized in it. We also study the interfaces between the topological state and other surface gapped phases. (paper)

  6. Anomalous Quasiparticle Symmetries and Non-Abelian Defects on Symmetrically Gapped Surfaces of Weak Topological Insulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mross, David F; Essin, Andrew; Alicea, Jason; Stern, Ady

    2016-01-22

    We show that boundaries of 3D weak topological insulators can become gapped by strong interactions while preserving all symmetries, leading to Abelian surface topological order. The anomalous nature of weak topological insulator surfaces manifests itself in a nontrivial action of symmetries on the quasiparticles; most strikingly, translations change the anyon types in a manner impossible in strictly 2D systems with the same symmetry. As a further consequence, screw dislocations form non-Abelian defects that trap Z_{4} parafermion zero modes.

  7. In situ Raman spectroscopy of topological insulator BiTe films with varying thickness

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, C.; Zhu, X.; Nilsson, Louis

    2013-01-01

    Topological insulators (TIs) are a new state of quantum matter with a band gap in bulk and conducting surface states. In this work, the Raman spectra of topological insulator Bi2Te3 films prepared by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have been measured by an in situ ultrahigh vacuum (UHV...... effects and symmetry breaking. In addition, an obvious change was observed at 3 QL when a Dirac cone formed. These results offer some new information about the novel quantum states of TIs....

  8. Prediction of a Large-Gap and Switchable Kane-Mele Quantum Spin Hall Insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marrazzo, Antimo; Gibertini, Marco; Campi, Davide; Mounet, Nicolas; Marzari, Nicola

    2018-03-01

    Fundamental research and technological applications of topological insulators are hindered by the rarity of materials exhibiting a robust topologically nontrivial phase, especially in two dimensions. Here, by means of extensive first-principles calculations, we propose a novel quantum spin Hall insulator with a sizable band gap of ˜0.5 eV that is a monolayer of jacutingaite, a naturally occurring layered mineral first discovered in 2008 in Brazil and recently synthesized. This system realizes the paradigmatic Kane-Mele model for quantum spin Hall insulators in a potentially exfoliable two-dimensional monolayer, with helical edge states that are robust and that can be manipulated exploiting a unique strong interplay between spin-orbit coupling, crystal-symmetry breaking, and dielectric response.

  9. Topological acoustic polaritons: robust sound manipulation at the subwavelength scale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yves, Simon; Fleury, Romain; Lemoult, Fabrice; Fink, Mathias; Lerosey, Geoffroy

    2017-01-01

    Topological insulators, a hallmark of condensed matter physics, have recently reached the classical realm of acoustic waves. A remarkable property of time-reversal invariant topological insulators is the presence of unidirectional spin-polarized propagation along their edges, a property that could lead to a wealth of new opportunities in the ability to guide and manipulate sound. Here, we demonstrate and study the possibility to induce topologically non-trivial acoustic states at the deep subwavelength scale, in a structured two-dimensional metamaterial composed of Helmholtz resonators. Radically different from previous designs based on non-resonant sonic crystals, our proposal enables robust sound manipulation on a surface along predefined, subwavelength pathways of arbitrary shapes. (paper)

  10. Topological acoustic polaritons: robust sound manipulation at the subwavelength scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yves, Simon; Fleury, Romain; Lemoult, Fabrice; Fink, Mathias; Lerosey, Geoffroy

    2017-07-01

    Topological insulators, a hallmark of condensed matter physics, have recently reached the classical realm of acoustic waves. A remarkable property of time-reversal invariant topological insulators is the presence of unidirectional spin-polarized propagation along their edges, a property that could lead to a wealth of new opportunities in the ability to guide and manipulate sound. Here, we demonstrate and study the possibility to induce topologically non-trivial acoustic states at the deep subwavelength scale, in a structured two-dimensional metamaterial composed of Helmholtz resonators. Radically different from previous designs based on non-resonant sonic crystals, our proposal enables robust sound manipulation on a surface along predefined, subwavelength pathways of arbitrary shapes.

  11. Surface quantum oscillations and weak antilocalization effect in topological insulator (Bi0.3Sb0.7)2Te3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urkude, Rajashri; Rawat, Rajeev; Palikundwar, Umesh

    2018-04-01

    In 3D topological insulators, achieving a genuine bulk-insulating state is an important topic of research. The material system (Bi,Sb)2(Te,Se)3 has been proposed as a topological insulator with high resistivity and low carrier concentration. Topological insulators are predicted to present interesting surface transport phenomena but their experimental studies have been hindered by metallic bulk conduction that overwhelms the surface transport. Here we present a study of the bulk-insulating properties of (Bi0.3Sb0.7)2Te3. We show that a high resistivity exceeding 1 Ωm as a result of variable-range hopping behavior of state and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations as coming from the topological surface state. We have been able to clarify both the bulk and surface transport channels, establishing a comprehensive understanding of the transport properties in this material. Our results demonstrate that (Bi0.3Sb0.7)2Te3 is a good material for studying the surface quantum transport in a topological insulator.

  12. Strong reflection and periodic resonant transmission of helical edge states in topological-insulator stub-like resonators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takagaki, Y.

    2015-01-01

    The helical edge states of two-dimensional topological insulators (TIs) experience appreciable quantum mechanical scattering in narrow channels when the width changes abruptly. The interference of the geometry scattering in narrow-wide-narrow waveguide structures is shown to give rise to the strong suppression of transmission when the incident energy is barely above the propagation threshold. Periodic resonant transmission takes place in this high reflection regime while the length of the wide section is varied. The resonance condition is governed by the transverse confinement in the wide section, where the form of quantization is manifested to differ for the two orthogonal directions. The confined energy levels in TI quantum dots are derived based on this observation. In addition, the off-diagonal spin-orbit term is found to produce an anomalous resonance state, which merges with the bottom ordinary resonance state to annihilate

  13. Molecular beam epitaxial growth of Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 topological insulators on GaAs (111 substrates: a potential route to fabricate topological insulator p-n junction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhaoquan Zeng

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available High quality Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 topological insulators films were epitaxially grown on GaAs (111 substrate using solid source molecular beam epitaxy. Their growth and behavior on both vicinal and non-vicinal GaAs (111 substrates were investigated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. It is found that non-vicinal GaAs (111 substrate is better than a vicinal substrate to provide high quality Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 films. Hall and magnetoresistance measurements indicate that p type Sb2Te3 and n type Bi2Te3 topological insulator films can be directly grown on a GaAs (111 substrate, which may pave a way to fabricate topological insulator p-n junction on the same substrate, compatible with the fabrication process of present semiconductor optoelectronic devices.

  14. Signatures of Majorana bound states in one-dimensional topological superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pientka, Falko

    2014-01-01

    Topological states of matter have fascinated condensed matter physicists for the past three decades. Famous examples include the integer and fractional quantum Hall states exhibiting a spectacular conductance quantization as well as topological insulators in two and three dimensions featuring gapless Dirac fermions at the boundary. Very recently, novel topological phases in superconductors have been subject of intense experimental and theoretical investigation. One-dimensional topological superconductors are particularly intriguing as they host exotic Majorana end states. These are zero-energy bound states with nonabelian exchange statistics potentially useful for topologically protected quantum computing. Recent theoretical and experimental advances have put the realization of Majorana states within reach of current measurement techniques. In this thesis we investigate signatures of Majorana bound states in realistic experiments aiming to improve the theoretical understanding of ongoing experimental efforts and to design novel measurement schemes, which exhibit convincing signatures of Majoranas. In particular we account for nonideal experimental conditions which can lead to qualitatively new features. Possible signatures of Majoranas can be accessed in the Josephson current through a weak link between two topological superconductors although the signatures in the dc Josephson effect are typically obscured by inevitable quasiparticle relaxation in the superconductor. Here we propose a measurement scheme in mesoscopic superconducting rings, where Majorana signatures persist even for infinitely fast relaxation. In a separate project we outline an alternative to the standard Josephson experiment in topological superconductors based on quantum wires. We delineate how Majoranas can be detected, when the Josephson current is induced by noncollinear magnetic fields applied to the two banks of the junction instead of a superconducting phase difference. Another important

  15. Electronic properties of novel topological quantum materials studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Yun [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

    2016-12-17

    The discovery of quantum Hall e ect has motivated the use of topology instead of broken symmetry to classify the states of matter. Quantum spin Hall e ect has been proposed to have a separation of spin currents as an analogue of the charge currents separation in quantum Hall e ect, leading us to the era of topological insulators. Three-dimensional analogue of the Dirac state in graphene has brought us the three-dimensional Dirac states. Materials with three-dimensional Dirac states could potentially be the parent compounds for Weyl semimetals and topological insulators when time-reversal or space inversion symmetry is broken. In addition to the single Dirac point linking the two dispersion cones in the Dirac/Weyl semimetals, Dirac points can form a line in the momentum space, resulting in a topological node line semimetal. These fascinating novel topological quantum materials could provide us platforms for studying the relativistic physics in condensed matter systems and potentially lead to design of new electronic devices that run faster and consume less power than traditional, silicon based transistors. In this thesis, we present the electronic properties of novel topological quantum materials studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES).

  16. Tunable spin-orbit coupling for ultracold atoms in two-dimensional optical lattices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grusdt, Fabian; Li, Tracy; Bloch, Immanuel; Demler, Eugene

    2017-06-01

    Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is at the heart of many exotic band structures and can give rise to many-body states with topological order. Here we present a general scheme based on a combination of microwave driving and lattice shaking for the realization of two-dimensional SOC with ultracold atoms in systems with inversion symmetry. We show that the strengths of Rashba and Dresselhaus SOC can be independently tuned in a spin-dependent square lattice. More generally, our method can be used to open gaps between different spin states without breaking time-reversal symmetry. We demonstrate that this allows for the realization of topological insulators with nontrivial spin textures closely related to the Kane-Mele model.

  17. Spatial distribution of spin polarization in a channel on the surface of a topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Xiaoying; Shao Huaihua; Liu Yiman; Tang Dongsheng; Zhou Guanghui

    2012-01-01

    We study the spatial distribution of electron spin polarization for a gate-controlled T-shaped channel on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator (3D TI). We demonstrate that an energy gap depending on channel geometry parameters is definitely opened due to the spatial confinement. Spin surface locking in momentum space for a uniform wide channel with Hamiltonian linearity in the wavevector is still kept, but it is broken with Hamiltonian nonlinearity in the wavevector, like that for two-dimensional surface states widely studied in the literature. However, the spin surface locking for a T-shaped channel is broken even with Hamiltonian linearity in the wavevector. Interestingly, the magnitude and direction of the in-plane spin polarization are spatially dependent in all regions due to the breaking of translational symmetry of the T-shaped channel system. These interesting findings for an electrically controlled nanostructure based on the 3D TI surface may be testable with the present experimental technique, and may provide further understanding the nature of 3D TI surface states. (paper)

  18. On the background independence of two-dimensional topological gravity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imbimbo, Camillo

    1995-04-01

    We formulate two-dimensional topological gravity in a background covariant Lagrangian framework. We derive the Ward identities which characterize the dependence of physical correlators on the background world-sheet metric defining the gauge-slice. We point out the existence of an "anomaly" in Ward identitites involving correlators of observables with higher ghost number. This "anomaly" represents an obstruction for physical correlators to be globally defined forms on moduli space which could be integrated in a background independent way. Starting from the anomalous Ward identities, we derive "descent" equations whose solutions are cocycles of the Lie algebra of the diffeomorphism group with values in the space of local forms on the moduli space. We solve the descent equations and provide explicit formulas for the cocycles, which allow for the definition of background independent integrals of physical correlators on the moduli space.

  19. Opportunities in chemistry and materials science for topological insulators and their nanostructures

    KAUST Repository

    Kong, Desheng

    2011-10-24

    Electrical charges on the boundaries of topological insulators favour forward motion over back-scattering at impurities, producing low-dissipation, metallic states that exist up to room temperature in ambient conditions. These states have the promise to impact a broad range of applications from electronics to the production of energy, which is one reason why topological insulators have become the rising star in condensed-matter physics. There are many challenges in the processing of these exotic materials to use the metallic states in functional devices, and they present great opportunities for the chemistry and materials science research communities. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

  20. Low field magnetoresistance in a 2D topological insulator based on wide HgTe quantum well.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olshanetsky, E B; Kvon, Z D; Gusev, G M; Mikhailov, N N; Dvoretsky, S A

    2016-09-01

    Low field magnetoresistance is experimentally studied in a two-dimensional topological insulator (TI) in both diffusive and quasiballistic samples fabricated on top of a wide (14 nm) HgTe quantum well. In all cases a pronounced quasi-linear positive magnetoresistance is observed similar to that found previously in diffusive samples based on a narrow (8 nm) HgTe well. The experimental results are compared with the main existing theoretical models based on different types of disorder: sample edge roughness, nonmagnetic disorder in an otherwise coherent TI and metallic puddles due to locally trapped charges that act like local gate on the sample. The quasiballistic samples with resistance close to the expected quantized values also show a positive low-field magnetoresistance but with a pronounced admixture of mesoscopic effects.

  1. Spin-related tunneling through a nanostructured electric-magnetic barrier on the surface of a topological insulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Zhenhua; Li, Jun

    2012-01-27

    We investigate quantum tunneling through a single electric and/or magnetic barrier on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator. We found that (1) the propagating behavior of electrons in such system exhibits a strong dependence on the direction of the incident electron wavevector and incident energy, giving the possibility to construct a wave vector and/or energy filter; (2) the spin orientation can be tuned by changing the magnetic barrier structure as well as the incident angles and energies.PACS numbers: 72.25.Dc; 73.20.-r; 73.23.-b; 75.70.-i.

  2. Optical conductivity of three and two dimensional topological nodal-line semimetals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barati, Shahin; Abedinpour, Saeed H.

    2017-10-01

    The peculiar shape of the Fermi surface of topological nodal-line semimetals at low carrier concentrations results in their unusual optical and transport properties. We analytically investigate the linear optical responses of three- and two-dimensional nodal-line semimetals using the Kubo formula. The optical conductivity of a three-dimensional nodal-line semimetal is anisotropic. Along the axial direction (i.e., the direction perpendicular to the nodal-ring plane), the Drude weight has a linear dependence on the chemical potential at both low and high carrier dopings. For the radial direction (i.e., the direction parallel to the nodal-ring plane), this dependence changes from linear into quadratic in the transition from low into high carrier concentration. The interband contribution into optical conductivity is also anisotropic. In particular, at large frequencies, it saturates to a constant value for the axial direction and linearly increases with frequency along the radial direction. In two-dimensional nodal-line semimetals, no interband optical transition could be induced and the only contribution to the optical conductivity arises from the intraband excitations. The corresponding Drude weight is independent of the carrier density at low carrier concentrations and linearly increases with chemical potential at high carrier doping.

  3. Two-dimensional epitaxial superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures: A platform for topological superconducting networks

    OpenAIRE

    Shabani, J.; Kjaergaard, M.; Suominen, H. J.; Kim, Younghyun; Nichele, F.; Pakrouski, K.; Stankevic, T.; Lutchyn, R. M.; Krogstrup, P.; Feidenhans'l, R.; Kraemer, S.; Nayak, C.; Troyer, M.; Marcus, C. M.; Palmstrøm, C. J.

    2015-01-01

    Progress in the emergent field of topological superconductivity relies on synthesis of new material combinations, combining superconductivity, low density, and spin-orbit coupling (SOC). For example, theory [1-4] indicates that the interface between a one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor (Sm) with strong SOC and a superconductor (S) hosts Majorana modes with nontrivial topological properties [5-8]. Recently, epitaxial growth of Al on InAs nanowires was shown to yield a high quality S-Sm system ...

  4. Topology of Flow Separation on Three-Dimensional Bodies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, Gary T.; Yates, Leslie A.

    1991-01-01

    In recent years there has been extensive research on three-dimensional flow separation. There are two different approaches: the phenomenological approach and a mathematical approach using topology. These two approaches are reviewed briefly and the shortcomings of some of the past works are discussed. A comprehensive approach applicable to incompressible and compressible steady-state flows as well as incompressible unsteady flow is then presented. The approach is similar to earlier topological approaches to separation but is more complete and in some cases adds more emphasis to certain points than in the past. To assist in the classification of various types of flow, nomenclature is introduced to describe the skin-friction portraits on the surface. This method of classification is then demonstrated on several categories of flow to illustrate particular points as well as the diversity of flow separation. The categories include attached, two-dimensional separation and three different types of simple, three-dimensional primary separation, secondary separation, and compound separation. Hypothetical experiments are utilized to illustrate the topological terminology and its role in characterizing these flows. These hypothetical experiments use colored oil injected onto the surface at singular points in the skin-friction portrait. Actual flow-visualization information, if available, is used to corroborate the hypothetical examples.

  5. Bilinear magnetoelectric resistance as a probe of three-dimensional spin texture in topological surface states

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Pan; Zhang, Steven S.-L.; Zhu, Dapeng; Liu, Yang; Wang, Yi; Yu, Jiawei; Vignale, Giovanni; Yang, Hyunsoo

    2018-05-01

    Surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators exhibit the phenomenon of spin-momentum locking, whereby the orientation of an electron spin is determined by its momentum. Probing the spin texture of these states is of critical importance for the realization of topological insulator devices, but the main technique currently available is spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Here we reveal a close link between the spin texture and a new kind of magnetoresistance, which depends on the relative orientation of the current with respect to the magnetic field as well as the crystallographic axes, and scales linearly with both the applied electric and magnetic fields. This bilinear magnetoelectric resistance can be used to map the spin texture of topological surface states by simple transport measurements. For a prototypical Bi2Se3 single layer, we can map both the in-plane and out-of-plane components of the spin texture (the latter arising from hexagonal warping). Theoretical calculations suggest that the bilinear magnetoelectric resistance originates from conversion of a non-equilibrium spin current into a charge current under application of the external magnetic field.

  6. Intrinsic Rashba-like splitting in asymmetric Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}/Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} heterogeneous topological insulator films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Xiaofei; Guo, Wanlin, E-mail: wlguo@nuaa.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Mechanical Structures and Key Laboratory for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices (MOE), Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016 (China)

    2014-08-25

    We show by density functional theory calculations that asymmetric hetero-stacking of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}/Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films can modulate the topological surface states. Due to the structure inversion asymmetry, an intrinsic Rashba-like splitting of the conical surface bands is aroused. While such splitting in homogeneous Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}-class topological insulators can be realized in films with more than three quintuple layers under external electric fields, the hetero-stacking breaks the limit of thickness for preserving the topological nature into the thinnest two quintuple layers. These results indicate that the hetero-stacking can serve as an efficient strategy for spin-resolved band engineering of topological insulators.

  7. Study on temperature sensitivity of topological insulators based on long-period fiber grating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Jianhua; Zhao, Chenghai; Li, Jianbo; He, Mengdong

    2017-06-01

    Based on a long-period fiber grating, we conducted experimental research on the temperature sensitivity of topological insulators. The long-period fiber grating and topological insulators solution were encapsulated in a capillary tube using UV glue, and the temperature response was measured. Within a range of 35 to 75 centigrade, one resonance dip of a long-period fiber grating exhibits a redshift of 1.536 nm. The temperature sensitivity is about 7.7 times of an ordinary long-period fiber grating's sensitivity (0.005 nm/°C). A numerical simulation is also performed on the basis of the experiments.

  8. Electromagnetic waves in a topological insulator thin film stack: helicon-like wave mode and photonic band structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inoue, Jun-ichi

    2013-09-09

    We theoretically explore the electromagnetic modes specific to a topological insulator superlattice in which topological and conventional insulator thin films are stacked periodically. In particular, we obtain analytic formulas for low energy mode that corresponds to a helicon wave, as well as those for photonic bands. We illustrate that the system can be modeled as a stack of quantum Hall layers whose conductivity tensors alternately change signs, and then we analyze the photonic band structures. This subject is a natural extension of a previous study by Tselis et al., which took into consideration a stack of identical quantum Hall layers but their discussion was limited into a low energy mode. Thus we provide analytic formulas for photonic bands and compare their features between the two systems. Our central findings in the topological insulator superlattice are that a low energy mode corresponding to a helicon wave has linear dispersion instead of the conventional quadratic form, and that a robust gapless photonic band appears although the system considered has spacial periodicity. In addition, we demonstrate that the photonic bands agree with the numerically calculated transmission spectra.

  9. Linear magnetoresistance and surface to bulk coupling in topological insulator thin films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Sourabh; Gopal, R K; Sarkar, Jit; Pandey, Atul; Patel, Bhavesh G; Mitra, Chiranjib

    2017-12-20

    We explore the temperature dependent magnetoresistance of bulk insulating topological insulator thin films. Thin films of Bi 2 Se 2 Te and BiSbTeSe 1.6 were grown using the pulsed laser deposition technique and subjected to transport measurements. Magnetotransport measurements indicate a non-saturating linear magnetoresistance (LMR) behavior at high magnetic field values. We present a careful analysis to explain the origin of LMR taking into consideration all the existing models of LMR. Here we consider that the bulk insulating states and the metallic surface states constitute two parallel conduction channels. Invoking this, we were able to explain linear magnetoresistance behavior as a competition between these parallel channels. We observe that the cross-over field, where LMR sets in, decreases with increasing temperature. We propose that this cross-over field can be used phenomenologically to estimate the strength of surface to bulk coupling.

  10. Low-loss and broadband anomalous Floquet topological insulator for airborne sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Yu-Gui; Shen, Ya-Xi; Zhao, De-Gang; Zhu, Xue-Feng

    2017-04-01

    Anomalous Floquet topological insulators (AFIs) for airborne sound have recently been realized in experiments. However, the implemented version suffers from significant loss and narrowband due to thermal viscosity and dispersive coupling strength between unit-cells. Here, we propose a solution for realizing low-loss and broadband acoustic AFI. We show that the loss after passing through one unit-cell can be less than 2% for the topological edge states. It is also theoretically unveiled that in the frequency range of nearly unitary coupling (˜0.97 from 4.8 kHz to 7.0 kHz in our case), around 84% corresponds to topological bands. Our proposal may promote the application of large-dimension acoustic topological devices.

  11. Contact spectroscopy on S/TI/N devices: Induced pairing on the surface of a topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stehno, Martin P.; Ngabonziza, Prosper; Snelder, Marieke; Myoren, Hiroaki; Pan, Yu; de Visser, Anne; Huang, Y.; Golden, Mark S.; Brinkman, Alexander

    Translating concepts of topological quantum computation into applications requires fine-tuning of parameters in the model Hamiltonians of candidate systems. Such level of control has proven difficult to achieve in devices where superconductors are used to induce pairing in topological insulator (TI) materials. While local probe experiments have indicated features of p-wave superconducting correlations in TIs (as suggested by theory), results on extended devices often remain ambiguous. We present contact spectroscopy data on superconductor/topological insulator/normal metal devices with bulk-insulating TI material and compare these with bulk conducting samples. We discuss the magnitude of the induced gap and unusual features in the conductance traces of the bulk-insulating samples that may suggest the presence of p-wave type correlations in the TI. This work is financially supported by the Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and by the European Research Council (ERC).

  12. Topological Material-Based Spin Devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Minhao; Wang, Xuefeng

    Three-dimensional topological insulators have insulating bulk and gapless helical surface states. One of the most fascinating properties of the metallic surface states is the spin-momentum helical locking. The giant current-driven torques on the magnetic layer have been discovered in TI/ferromagnet bilayers originating from the spin-momentum helical locking, enabling the efficient magnetization switching with a low current density. We demonstrated the current-direction dependent on-off state in TIs-based spin valve devices for memory and logic applications. Further, we demonstrated the Bi2Se3 system will go from a topologically nontrivial state to a topologically trivial state when Bi atoms are replaced by lighter In atoms. Here, topologically trivial metal (BixIny)2 Se3 with high mobility also facilitates the realization of its application in multifunctional spintronic devices.

  13. Scanning tunneling microscopy study of a newly proposed topological insulator ZrTe{sub 5}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuhn, Timo; Gragnaniello, Luca; Fonin, Mikhail [Universitaet Konstanz (Germany); Autes, Gabriel; Berger, Helmuth; Yazyev, Oleg [Institute of Condensed Matter Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne (Switzerland); Manzoni, Giulia [Universita degli Studi di Trieste (Italy); Crepaldi, Alberto; Parmigiani, Fulvio [Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste, Trieste (Italy)

    2016-07-01

    Topological insulators belong to a new kind of material class that posses robust gapless states inside the insulating bulk gap, which makes them promising candidates for achieving dissipationless transport devices. We present a Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) study on a layered material ZrTe{sub 5}, a promising candidate for a new topological insulator. The crystal structure could clearly be identified in topography images. STM measurements enabled direct imaging of standing waves at steps and defects. The standing waves show a clearly dispersive character. Furthermore STS measurements are in good agreement with density functional theory calculations and reveal Landau quantization with applied magnetic field. Comparison with data obtained by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy allows for detailed insights into the electronic properties of this material.

  14. Topologically protected states in one-dimensional systems

    CERN Document Server

    Fefferman, C L; Weinstein, M I

    2017-01-01

    The authors study a class of periodic Schrödinger operators, which in distinguished cases can be proved to have linear band-crossings or "Dirac points". They then show that the introduction of an "edge", via adiabatic modulation of these periodic potentials by a domain wall, results in the bifurcation of spatially localized "edge states". These bound states are associated with the topologically protected zero-energy mode of an asymptotic one-dimensional Dirac operator. The authors' model captures many aspects of the phenomenon of topologically protected edge states for two-dimensional bulk structures such as the honeycomb structure of graphene. The states the authors construct can be realized as highly robust TM-electromagnetic modes for a class of photonic waveguides with a phase-defect.

  15. Regular and irregular dynamics of spin-polarized wavepackets in a mesoscopic quantum dot at the edge of topological insulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khomitsky, D. V., E-mail: khomitsky@phys.unn.ru; Chubanov, A. A.; Konakov, A. A. [Lobachevsky National Research State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Department of Physics (Russian Federation)

    2016-12-15

    The dynamics of Dirac–Weyl spin-polarized wavepackets driven by a periodic electric field is considered for the electrons in a mesoscopic quantum dot formed at the edge of the two-dimensional HgTe/CdTe topological insulator with Dirac–Weyl massless energy spectra, where the motion of carriers is less sensitive to disorder and impurity potentials. It is observed that the interplay of strongly coupled spin and charge degrees of freedom creates the regimes of irregular dynamics in both coordinate and spin channels. The border between the regular and irregular regimes determined by the strength and frequency of the driving field is found analytically within the quasiclassical approach by means of the Ince–Strutt diagram for the Mathieu equation, and is supported by full quantum-mechanical simulations of the driven dynamics. The investigation of quasienergy spectrum by Floquet approach reveals the presence of non-Poissonian level statistics, which indicates the possibility of chaotic quantum dynamics and corresponds to the areas of parameters for irregular regimes within the quasiclassical approach. We find that the influence of weak disorder leads to partial suppression of the dynamical chaos. Our findings are of interest both for progress in the fundamental field of quantum chaotic dynamics and for further experimental and technological applications of spindependent phenomena in nanostructures based on topological insulators.

  16. Josephson supercurrent in a topological insulator without a bulk shunt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Snelder, M; Molenaar, C G; Golubov, A A; Van der Wiel, W G; Hilgenkamp, H; Golden, M S; Brinkman, A; Pan, Y; Wu, D; Huang, Y K; De Visser, A

    2014-01-01

    A Josephson supercurrent has been induced into the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi 1.5 Sb 0.5 Te 1.7 Se 1.3 . We show that the transport in Bi 1.5 Sb 0.5 Te 1.7 Se 1.3 exfoliated flakes is dominated by surface states and that the bulk conductivity can be neglected at the temperatures where we study the proximity induced superconductivity. We prepared Josephson junctions with widths in the order of 40 nm and lengths in the order of 50–80 nm on several Bi 1.5 Sb 0.5 Te 1.7 Se 1.3 flakes and measured down to 30 mK. The Fraunhofer patterns unequivocally reveal that the supercurrent is a Josephson supercurrent. The measured critical currents are reproducibly observed on different devices and upon multiple cooldowns, and the critical current dependence on temperature as well as magnetic field can be well explained by diffusive transport models and geometric effects. (paper)

  17. Samarium Hexaboride: The First True 3D Topological Insulator?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolgast, Steven G.

    The recent theoretical prediction of a topologically protected surface state in the mixed-valent insulator SmB6 has motivated a series of charge transport studies, which are presented here. It is first studied using a specialized configuration designed to distinguish bulk-dominated conduction from surface-dominated conduction. As the material is cooled below 4 K, it exhibits a crossover from thermally activated bulk transport to metallic surface conduction with a fully insulating bulk. The robustness and magnitude of the surface conductivity, as is manifest in the literature of SmB6, is strong evidence for the topological insulator (TI) metallic surface states predicted for this material. This resolves a decades-old puzzle surrounding the low-temperature behavior of SmB6. Next, the magnetotransport properties of the surface are investigated using a Corbino disk geometry, which can directly measure the conductivity of individual surfaces. Both (011) and (001) crystal surfaces show a strong negative magnetoresistance at all magnetic field angles, due primarily to changes in the carrier density. The low mobility value accounts for the failure so far to observe Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations below 95 T. Small variations in the mobility and temperature dependence suggest a suppression of Kondo scattering from native oxide-layer magnetic moments. At low fields, a dynamical field-sweep-rate-dependent hysteretic behavior is observed. It persists at the slowest sweep rates, and cannot be explained by quantum interference corrections; it is likely due to extrinsic effects such as the magnetocaloric effect or glassy ordering of the native oxide moments. Pulsed magnetic field measurements up to 60 T at temperatures throughout the crossover regime clearly distinguish the surface magnetoresistance from the bulk magnetoresistance. The bulk magnetoresistance is due to a reduction in the bulk gap with increasing magnetic field. Finally, small subsurface cracks formed in SmB6 via

  18. Uncertainty relations and topological-band insulator transitions in 2D gapped Dirac materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Romera, E; Calixto, M

    2015-01-01

    Uncertainty relations are studied for a characterization of topological-band insulator transitions in 2D gapped Dirac materials isostructural with graphene. We show that the relative or Kullback–Leibler entropy in position and momentum spaces, and the standard variance-based uncertainty relation give sharp signatures of topological phase transitions in these systems. (paper)

  19. Dirac spin-orbit torques and charge pumping at the surface of topological insulators

    KAUST Repository

    Ndiaye, Papa Birame

    2017-07-07

    We address the nature of spin-orbit torques at the magnetic surfaces of topological insulators using the linear-response theory. We find that the so-called Dirac torques in such systems possess a different symmetry compared to their Rashba counterpart, as well as a high anisotropy as a function of the magnetization direction. In particular, the damping torque vanishes when the magnetization lies in the plane of the topological-insulator surface. We also show that the Onsager reciprocal of the spin-orbit torque, the charge pumping, induces an enhanced anisotropic damping. Via a macrospin model, we numerically demonstrate that these features have important consequences in terms of magnetization switching.

  20. Dirac spin-orbit torques and charge pumping at the surface of topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ndiaye, Papa B.; Akosa, C. A.; Fischer, M. H.; Vaezi, A.; Kim, E.-A.; Manchon, A.

    2017-07-01

    We address the nature of spin-orbit torques at the magnetic surfaces of topological insulators using the linear-response theory. We find that the so-called Dirac torques in such systems possess a different symmetry compared to their Rashba counterpart, as well as a high anisotropy as a function of the magnetization direction. In particular, the damping torque vanishes when the magnetization lies in the plane of the topological-insulator surface. We also show that the Onsager reciprocal of the spin-orbit torque, the charge pumping, induces an enhanced anisotropic damping. Via a macrospin model, we numerically demonstrate that these features have important consequences in terms of magnetization switching.

  1. Dirac spin-orbit torques and charge pumping at the surface of topological insulators

    KAUST Repository

    Ndiaye, Papa Birame; Akosa, Collins Ashu; Fischer, M. H.; Vaezi, A.; Kim, E.-A.; Manchon, Aurelien

    2017-01-01

    We address the nature of spin-orbit torques at the magnetic surfaces of topological insulators using the linear-response theory. We find that the so-called Dirac torques in such systems possess a different symmetry compared to their Rashba counterpart, as well as a high anisotropy as a function of the magnetization direction. In particular, the damping torque vanishes when the magnetization lies in the plane of the topological-insulator surface. We also show that the Onsager reciprocal of the spin-orbit torque, the charge pumping, induces an enhanced anisotropic damping. Via a macrospin model, we numerically demonstrate that these features have important consequences in terms of magnetization switching.

  2. Topological surface states interacting with bulk excitations in the Kondo insulator SmB6 revealed via planar tunneling spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Wan Kyu; Sun, Lunan; Noddings, Alexander; Kim, Dae-Jeong; Fisk, Zachary; Greene, Laura H

    2016-06-14

    Samarium hexaboride (SmB6), a well-known Kondo insulator in which the insulating bulk arises from strong electron correlations, has recently attracted great attention owing to increasing evidence for its topological nature, thereby harboring protected surface states. However, corroborative spectroscopic evidence is still lacking, unlike in the weakly correlated counterparts, including Bi2Se3 Here, we report results from planar tunneling that unveil the detailed spectroscopic properties of SmB6 The tunneling conductance obtained on the (001) and (011) single crystal surfaces reveals linear density of states as expected for two and one Dirac cone(s), respectively. Quite remarkably, it is found that these topological states are not protected completely within the bulk hybridization gap. A phenomenological model of the tunneling process invoking interaction of the surface states with bulk excitations (spin excitons), as predicted by a recent theory, provides a consistent explanation for all of the observed features. Our spectroscopic study supports and explains the proposed picture of the incompletely protected surface states in this topological Kondo insulator SmB6.

  3. Evidence for Topological Edge States in a Large Energy Gap near the Step Edges on the Surface of ZrTe_{5}

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Wu

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Two-dimensional topological insulators with a large bulk band gap are promising for experimental studies of quantum spin Hall effect and for spintronic device applications. Despite considerable theoretical efforts in predicting large-gap two-dimensional topological insulator candidates, none of them have been experimentally demonstrated to have a full gap, which is crucial for quantum spin Hall effect. Here, by combining scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we reveal that ZrTe_{5} crystal hosts a large full gap of ∼100  meV on the surface and a nearly constant density of states within the entire gap at the monolayer step edge. These features are well reproduced by our first-principles calculations, which point to the topologically nontrivial nature of the edge states.

  4. Theory of bulk-surface coupling in topological insulator films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saha, Kush; Garate, Ion

    2014-12-01

    We present a quantitative microscopic theory of the disorder- and phonon-induced coupling between surface and bulk states in doped topological insulator films. We find a simple mathematical structure for the surface-to-bulk scattering matrix elements and confirm the importance of bulk-surface coupling in transport and photoemission experiments, assessing its dependence on temperature, carrier density, film thickness, and particle-hole asymmetry.

  5. Perovskite ThTaN3: A large-thermopower topological crystalline insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Myung-Chul; Lee, Kwan-Woo; Pickett, Warren E.

    2018-03-01

    ThTaN3, a rare cubic perovskite nitride semiconductor, has been studied using ab initio methods. Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) results in band inversion and a band gap of 150 meV at the zone center. Despite trivial Z2 indices, two pairs of spin-polarized surface bands cross the gap near the zone center, indicating that this system is a topological crystalline insulator with the mirror Chern number of | Cm|=2 protected by the mirror and C4 rotational symmetries. Additionally, SOC doubles the Seebeck coefficient, leading to a maximum of ˜400 μ V /K at 150 K for carrier-doping levels of several 1017/cm3.ThTaN3 combines excellent bulk thermopower with parallel conduction through topological surface states that may point toward new possibilities for platforms for engineering devices with larger figures of merit.

  6. Two-dimensional threshold voltage analytical model of DMG strained-silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Jin; Liu Hongxia; Li Bin; Cao Lei; Yuan Bo

    2010-01-01

    For the first time, a simple and accurate two-dimensional analytical model for the surface potential variation along the channel in fully depleted dual-material gate strained-Si-on-insulator (DMG SSOI) MOSFETs is developed. We investigate the improved short channel effect (SCE), hot carrier effect (HCE), drain-induced barrier-lowering (DIBL) and carrier transport efficiency for the novel structure MOSFET. The analytical model takes into account the effects of different metal gate lengths, work functions, the drain bias and Ge mole fraction in the relaxed SiGe buffer. The surface potential in the channel region exhibits a step potential, which can suppress SCE, HCE and DIBL. Also, strained-Si and SOI structure can improve the carrier transport efficiency, with strained-Si being particularly effective. Further, the threshold voltage model correctly predicts a 'rollup' in threshold voltage with decreasing channel length ratios or Ge mole fraction in the relaxed SiGe buffer. The validity of the two-dimensional analytical model is verified using numerical simulations. (semiconductor devices)

  7. Molecular beam epitaxial growth of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulators on GaAs (111) substrates: a potential route to fabricate topological insulator p-n junction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zeng, Zhaoquan; Morgan, Timothy A.; Li, Chen; Hirono, Yusuke; Hu, Xian; Hawkridge, Michael E.; Benamara, Mourad; Salamo, Gregory J. [Arkansas Institute for Nanoscale Material Sciences and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 (United States); Fan, Dongsheng; Yu, Shuiqing [Arkansas Institute for Nanoscale Material Sciences and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 (United States); Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 (United States); Zhao, Yanfei [International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 (China); Lee, Joon Sue [The Center for Nanoscale Science and Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Wang, Jian [International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 (China); The Center for Nanoscale Science and Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Wang, Zhiming M. [Arkansas Institute for Nanoscale Material Sciences and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 (United States); State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054 (China); Engineering Research Center for Semiconductor Integrated Technology, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100083 (China)

    2013-07-15

    High quality Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulators films were epitaxially grown on GaAs (111) substrate using solid source molecular beam epitaxy. Their growth and behavior on both vicinal and non-vicinal GaAs (111) substrates were investigated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. It is found that non-vicinal GaAs (111) substrate is better than a vicinal substrate to provide high quality Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films. Hall and magnetoresistance measurements indicate that p type Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and n type Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulator films can be directly grown on a GaAs (111) substrate, which may pave a way to fabricate topological insulator p-n junction on the same substrate, compatible with the fabrication process of present semiconductor optoelectronic devices.

  8. Even-dimensional topological gravity from Chern-Simons gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Merino, N.; Perez, A.; Salgado, P.

    2009-01-01

    It is shown that the topological action for gravity in 2n-dimensions can be obtained from the (2n+1)-dimensional Chern-Simons gravity genuinely invariant under the Poincare group. The 2n-dimensional topological gravity is described by the dynamics of the boundary of a (2n+1)-dimensional Chern-Simons gravity theory with suitable boundary conditions. The field φ a , which is necessary to construct this type of topological gravity in even dimensions, is identified with the coset field associated with the non-linear realizations of the Poincare group ISO(d-1,1).

  9. Gauge-theoretic invariants for topological insulators: a bridge between Berry, Wess-Zumino, and Fu-Kane-Mele

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monaco, Domenico; Tauber, Clément

    2017-07-01

    We establish a connection between two recently proposed approaches to the understanding of the geometric origin of the Fu-Kane-Mele invariant FKM\\in Z_2, arising in the context of two-dimensional time-reversal symmetric topological insulators. On the one hand, the Z_2 invariant can be formulated in terms of the Berry connection and the Berry curvature of the Bloch bundle of occupied states over the Brillouin torus. On the other, using techniques from the theory of bundle gerbes, it is possible to provide an expression for FKM containing the square root of the Wess-Zumino amplitude for a certain U( N)-valued field over the Brillouin torus. We link the two formulas by showing directly the equality between the above-mentioned Wess-Zumino amplitude and the Berry phase, as well as between their square roots. An essential tool of independent interest is an equivariant version of the adjoint Polyakov-Wiegmann formula for fields T^2 → U(N), of which we provide a proof employing only basic homotopy theory and circumventing the language of bundle gerbes.

  10. Applications of Atomic Systems in Quantum Simulation, Quantum Computation and Topological Phases of Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shengtao

    The ability to precisely and coherently control atomic systems has improved dramatically in the last two decades, driving remarkable advancements in quantum computation and simulation. In recent years, atomic and atom-like systems have also been served as a platform to study topological phases of matter and non-equilibrium many-body physics. Integrated with rapid theoretical progress, the employment of these systems is expanding the realm of our understanding on a range of physical phenomena. In this dissertation, I draw on state-of-the-art experimental technology to develop several new ideas for controlling and applying atomic systems. In the first part of this dissertation, we propose several novel schemes to realize, detect, and probe topological phases in atomic and atom-like systems. We first theoretically study the intriguing properties of Hopf insulators, a peculiar type of topological insulators beyond the standard classification paradigm of topological phases. Using a solid-state quantum simulator, we report the first experimental observation of Hopf insulators. We demonstrate the Hopf fibration with fascinating topological links in the experiment, showing clear signals of topological phase transitions for the underlying Hamiltonian. Next, we propose a feasible experimental scheme to realize the chiral topological insulator in three dimensions. They are a type of topological insulators protected by the chiral symmetry and have thus far remained unobserved in experiment. We then introduce a method to directly measure topological invariants in cold-atom experiments. This detection scheme is general and applicable to probe of different topological insulators in any spatial dimension. In another study, we theoretically discover a new type of topological gapless rings, dubbed a Weyl exceptional ring, in three-dimensional dissipative cold atomic systems. In the second part of this dissertation, we focus on the application of atomic systems in quantum computation

  11. Chromium-induced ferromagnetism with perpendicular anisotropy in topological crystalline insulator SnTe (111) thin films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Fei; Zhang, Hongrui; Jiang, Jue; Zhao, Yi-Fan; Yu, Jia; Liu, Wei; Li, Da; Chan, Moses H. W.; Sun, Jirong; Zhang, Zhidong; Chang, Cui-Zu

    2018-03-01

    Topological crystalline insulator is a recently discovered topological phase of matter. It possesses multiple Dirac surface states, which are protected by the crystal symmetry. This is in contrast to the time-reversal symmetry that is operative in the well-known topological insulators. In the presence of a Zeeman field and/or strain, the multiple Dirac surface states are gapped. The high-Chern-number quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) state is predicted to emerge if the chemical potential resides in all the Zeeman gaps. Here, we use molecular-beam epitaxy to grow 12 double-layer (DL) pure and Cr-doped SnTe (111) thin film on heat-treated SrTi O3 (111) substrate using a quintuple layer of insulating (Bi0.2Sb0.8 ) 2T e3 topological insulator as a buffer film. The Hall traces of Cr-doped SnTe film at low temperatures display square hysteresis loops indicating long-range ferromagnetic order with perpendicular anisotropy. The Curie temperature of the 12 DL S n0.9C r0.1Te film is ˜110 K. Due to the chemical potential crossing the bulk valence bands, the anomalous Hall resistance of 12 DL S n0.9C r0.1Te film is substantially lower than the predicted quantized value (˜1 /4 h /e2 ). It is possible that with systematic tuning the chemical potential via chemical doping and electrical gating, the high-Chern-number QAH state can be realized in the Cr-doped SnTe (111) thin film.

  12. Valley polarized quantum Hall effect and topological insulator phase transitions in silicene

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2013-01-01

    encountered for graphene, in particular the zero band gap and weak spin orbit interaction. We demonstrate a valley polarized quantum Hall effect and topological insulator phase transitions. We use the Kubo formalism to discuss the Hall conductivity and address

  13. Spin-orbit torque in 3D topological insulator-ferromagnet heterostructure: crossover between bulk and surface transport

    KAUST Repository

    Ghosh, Sumit; Manchon, Aurelien

    2017-01-01

    Current-driven spin-orbit torques are investigated in a heterostructure composed of a ferromagnet deposited on top of a three dimensional topological insulator using the linear response formalism. We develop a tight-binding model of the heterostructure adopting a minimal interfacial hybridization scheme that promotes induced magnetic exchange on the topological surface states, as well as induced Rashba-like spin-orbit coupling in the ferromagnet. Therefore, our model accounts for spin Hall effect from bulk states together with inverse spin galvanic and magnetoelectric effects at the interface on equal footing. By varying the transport energy across the band structure, we uncover a crossover from surface-dominated to bulk-dominated transport regimes. We show that the spin density profile and the nature of the spin-orbit torques differ substantially in both regimes. Our results, which compare favorably with experimental observations, demonstrate that the large damping torque reported recently is more likely attributed to interfacial magnetoelectric effect, while spin Hall torque remains small even in the bulk-dominated regime.

  14. Spin-orbit torque in 3D topological insulator-ferromagnet heterostructure: crossover between bulk and surface transport

    KAUST Repository

    Ghosh, Sumit

    2017-11-29

    Current-driven spin-orbit torques are investigated in a heterostructure composed of a ferromagnet deposited on top of a three dimensional topological insulator using the linear response formalism. We develop a tight-binding model of the heterostructure adopting a minimal interfacial hybridization scheme that promotes induced magnetic exchange on the topological surface states, as well as induced Rashba-like spin-orbit coupling in the ferromagnet. Therefore, our model accounts for spin Hall effect from bulk states together with inverse spin galvanic and magnetoelectric effects at the interface on equal footing. By varying the transport energy across the band structure, we uncover a crossover from surface-dominated to bulk-dominated transport regimes. We show that the spin density profile and the nature of the spin-orbit torques differ substantially in both regimes. Our results, which compare favorably with experimental observations, demonstrate that the large damping torque reported recently is more likely attributed to interfacial magnetoelectric effect, while spin Hall torque remains small even in the bulk-dominated regime.

  15. Machine Learning Topological Invariants with Neural Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Pengfei; Shen, Huitao; Zhai, Hui

    2018-02-01

    In this Letter we supervisedly train neural networks to distinguish different topological phases in the context of topological band insulators. After training with Hamiltonians of one-dimensional insulators with chiral symmetry, the neural network can predict their topological winding numbers with nearly 100% accuracy, even for Hamiltonians with larger winding numbers that are not included in the training data. These results show a remarkable success that the neural network can capture the global and nonlinear topological features of quantum phases from local inputs. By opening up the neural network, we confirm that the network does learn the discrete version of the winding number formula. We also make a couple of remarks regarding the role of the symmetry and the opposite effect of regularization techniques when applying machine learning to physical systems.

  16. Emergent Topological Phenomena in Thin Films of Pyrochlore Iridates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Bohm-Jung; Nagaosa, Naoto

    2014-06-01

    Because of the recent development of thin film and artificial superstructure growth techniques, it is possible to control the dimensionality of the system, smoothly between two and three dimensions. In this Letter we unveil the dimensional crossover of emergent topological phenomena in correlated topological materials. In particular, by focusing on the thin film of pyrochlore iridate antiferromagnets grown along the [111] direction, we demonstrate that the thin film can have a giant anomalous Hall conductance, proportional to the thickness of the film, even though there is no Hall effect in 3D bulk material. Moreover, in the case of ultrathin films, a quantized anomalous Hall conductance can be observed, despite the fact that the system is an antiferromagnet. In addition, we uncover the emergence of a new topological phase, the nontrivial topological properties of which are hidden in the bulk insulator and manifest only in thin films. This shows that the thin film of correlated topological materials is a new platform to search for unexplored novel topological phenomena.

  17. Observation of zone folding induced acoustic topological insulators and the role of spin-mixing defects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Yuanchen; Ge, Hao; Tian, Yuan; Lu, Minghui; Jing, Yun

    2017-11-01

    This article reports on the experimental realization of a flow-free, pseudospin-based acoustic topological insulator designed using the strategy of zone folding. Robust sound one-way propagation is demonstrated with the presence of non-spin-mixing defects. On the other hand, it is shown that spin-mixing defects, which break the geometric symmetry and therefore the pseudo-time-reversal symmetry, can open up nontrivial band gaps within the edge state frequency band, and their width can be tailored by the extent of the defect. This provides a possible route for realizing tunable acoustic topological insulators.

  18. Hidden landscapes in thin film topological insulators: between order and disorder, 2D and 3D, normal and topological phases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Seongshik

    Topological insulator (TI) is one of the rare systems in the history of condensed matter physics that is initiated by theories and followed by experiments. Although this theory-driven advance helped move the field quite fast despite its short history, apparently there exist significant gaps between theories and experiments. Many of these discrepancies originate from the very fact that the worlds readily accessible to theories are often far from the real worlds that are available in experiments. For example, the very paradigm of topological protection of the surface states on Z2 TIs such as Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3, etc, is in fact valid only if the sample size is infinite and the crystal momentum is well-defined in all three dimensions. On the other hand, many widely studied forms of TIs such as thin films and nano-wires have significant confinement in one or more of the dimensions with varying level of disorders. In other words, many of the real world topological systems have some important parameters that are not readily captured by theories, and thus it is often questionable how far the topological theories are valid to real systems. Interestingly, it turns out that this very uncertainty of the theories provides additional control knobs that allow us to explore hidden topological territories. In this talk, I will discuss how these additional knobs in thin film topological insulators reveal surprising, at times beautiful, landscapes at the boundaries between order and disorder, 2D and 3D, normal and topological phases. This work is supported by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's EPiQS Initiative (GBMF4418).

  19. Nonvolatile Solid-State Charged-Polymer Gating of Topological Insulators into the Topological Insulating Regime

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ireland, R. M.; Wu, Liang; Salehi, M.; Oh, S.; Armitage, N. P.; Katz, H. E.

    2018-04-01

    We demonstrate the ability to reduce the carrier concentration of thin films of the topological insulator (TI) Bi2 Se3 by utilizing a nonvolatile electrostatic gating via corona charging of electret polymers. Sufficient electric field can be imparted to a polymer-TI bilayer to result in significant electron density depletion, even without the continuous connection of a gate electrode or the chemical modification of the TI. We show that the Fermi level of Bi2 Se3 is shifted toward the Dirac point with this method. Using terahertz spectroscopy, we find that the surface chemical potential is lowered into the bulk band gap (approximately 50 meV above the Dirac point and 170 meV below the conduction-band minimum), and it is stabilized in the intrinsic regime while enhancing electron mobility. The mobility of surface state electrons is enhanced to a value as high as approximately 1600 cm2/V s at 5 K.

  20. Topologically robust sound propagation in an angular-momentum-biased graphene-like resonator lattice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khanikaev, Alexander B.; Fleury, Romain; Mousavi, S. Hossein; Alù, Andrea

    2015-10-01

    Topological insulators do not allow conduction in the bulk, yet they support edge modes that travel along the boundary only in one direction, determined by the carried electron spin, with inherent robustness to defects and disorder. Topological insulators have inspired analogues in photonics and optics, in which one-way edge propagation in topologically protected two-dimensional materials is achieved breaking time-reversal symmetry with a magnetic bias. Here, we introduce the concept of topological order in classical acoustics, realizing robust topological protection and one-way edge propagation of sound in a suitably designed resonator lattice biased with angular momentum, forming the acoustic analogue of a magnetically biased graphene layer. Extending the concept of an acoustic nonreciprocal circulator based on angular-momentum bias, time-reversal symmetry is broken here using moderate rotational motion of air within each element of the lattice, which takes the role of the electron spin in determining the direction of modal edge propagation.

  1. Large linear magnetoresistance in topological crystalline insulator Pb_0_._6Sn_0_._4Te

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roychowdhury, Subhajit; Ghara, Somnath; Guin, Satya N.; Sundaresan, A.; Biswas, Kanishka

    2016-01-01

    Classical magnetoresistance generally follows the quadratic dependence of the magnetic field at lower field and finally saturates when field is larger. Here, we report the large positive non-saturating linear magnetoresistance in topological crystalline insulator, Pb_0_._6Sn_0_._4Te, at different temperatures between 3 K and 300 K in magnetic field up to 9 T. Magnetoresistance value as high as ∼200% was achieved at 3 K at magnetic field of 9 T. Linear magnetoresistance observed in Pb_0_._6Sn_0_._4Te is mainly governed by the spatial fluctuation carrier mobility due to distortions in the current paths in inhomogeneous conductor. - Graphical abstract: Large non-saturating linear magnetoresistance has been evidenced in topological crystalline insulator, Pb_0_._6Sn_0_._4Te, at different temperatures between 3 K and 300 K in magnetic field up to 9 T. - Highlights: • Large non-saturating linear magnetoresistance was achieved in the topological crystalline insulator, Pb_0_._6Sn_0_._4Te. • Highest magnetoresistance value as high as ~200% was achieved at 3 K at magnetic field of 9 T. • Linear magnetoresistance in Pb_0_._6Sn_0_._4Te is mainly governed by the spatial fluctuation of the carrier mobility.

  2. (d -2 ) -Dimensional Edge States of Rotation Symmetry Protected Topological States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Zhida; Fang, Zhong; Fang, Chen

    2017-12-01

    We study fourfold rotation-invariant gapped topological systems with time-reversal symmetry in two and three dimensions (d =2 , 3). We show that in both cases nontrivial topology is manifested by the presence of the (d -2 )-dimensional edge states, existing at a point in 2D or along a line in 3D. For fermion systems without interaction, the bulk topological invariants are given in terms of the Wannier centers of filled bands and can be readily calculated using a Fu-Kane-like formula when inversion symmetry is also present. The theory is extended to strongly interacting systems through the explicit construction of microscopic models having robust (d -2 )-dimensional edge states.

  3. Topological phases of interacting fermions in one-dimensional superconductor - normal metal geometry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meidan, Dganit [Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105 (Israel); Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universitaet Berlin, 14195 Berlin (Germany); Romito, Alessandro; Brouwer, Piet W. [Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105 (Israel)

    2015-07-01

    One-dimensional superconductors can be in non-trivial topological phases harboring Majorana end-states, which possess non-abelian statistics. It has been recently established that in the presence of interactions the classification of topological superconducting phases can be significantly altered. Specifically, for one-dimensional superconductors possessing a time reversal symmetry (BDI class), interactions reduce the infinitely many non-interacting phases (Z topological index) to eight distinct ones (Z{sub 8} topological index). In this talk I will consider multi-mode superconducting wires in such BDI class when probed by an external contact, and discuss their low temperature and voltage bias transport properties. I will first show that the Andreev reflection component of the scattering matrix of the probing lead provides a topological index, r=-4,.., 4, which distinguish the eight topological phases. The two topologically equivalent phases with r= 4,-4 support emergent many-body end states, which are identified to be a topologically protected Kondo-like resonance. The path in phase space that connects these equivalent phases crosses a non-fermi liquid fixed point where a multiple channel Kondo effect develops.

  4. Workshop on New Trends in Topological Insulators Held in Barcelona, Spain on 3-6 June 2013. Abstracts Book

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-01

    Center (DIPC), 20018 San Sebastián/Donostia, Basque Country, Spain b Departamento de Física de Materiales, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, UPV/EHU, Apdo...a,*, Pablo San José a , Elsa Prada b Jorge Cayao a a Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones...Topological Insulator. Luis Brey Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid. CSIC brey@icmm.csic.es Abstract A topological insulator

  5. Evidence of topological insulator state in the semimetal LaBi

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lou, R.; Fu, B.-B.; Xu, Q. N.; Guo, P.-J.; Kong, L.-Y.; Zeng, L.-K.; Ma, J.-Z.; Richard, P.; Fang, C.; Huang, Y.-B.; Sun, S.-S.; Wang, Q.; Wang, L.; Shi, Y.-G.; Lei, H. C.; Liu, K.; Weng, H. M.; Qian, T.; Ding, H.; Wang, S.-C.

    2017-03-01

    By employing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy combined with first-principles calculations, we performed a systematic investigation on the electronic structure of LaBi, which exhibits extremely large magnetoresistance (XMR), and is theoretically predicted to possess band anticrossing with nontrivial topological properties. Here, the observations of the Fermi-surface topology and band dispersions are similar to previous studies on LaSb [L.-K. Zeng, R. Lou, D.-S. Wu, Q. N. Xu, P.-J. Guo, L.-Y. Kong, Y.-G. Zhong, J.-Z. Ma, B.-B. Fu, P. Richard, P. Wang, G. T. Liu, L. Lu, Y.-B. Huang, C. Fang, S.-S. Sun, Q. Wang, L. Wang, Y.-G. Shi, H. M. Weng, H.-C. Lei, K. Liu, S.-C. Wang, T. Qian, J.-L. Luo, and H. Ding, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 127204 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.127204], a topologically trivial XMR semimetal, except the existence of a band inversion along the Γ -X direction, with one massless and one gapped Dirac-like surface state at the X and Γ points, respectively. The odd number of massless Dirac cones suggests that LaBi is analogous to the time-reversal Z2 nontrivial topological insulator. These findings open up a new series for exploring novel topological states and investigating their evolution from the perspective of topological phase transition within the family of rare-earth monopnictides.

  6. Dynamic surface electronic reconstruction as symmetry-protected topological orders in topological insulator Bi2Se3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shu, G. J.; Liou, S. C.; Karna, S. K.; Sankar, R.; Hayashi, M.; Chou, F. C.

    2018-04-01

    The layered narrow-band-gap semiconductor Bi2Se3 is composed of heavy elements with strong spin-orbital coupling, which has been identified both as a good candidate for a thermoelectric material with high thermoelectric figure of merit (Z T ) and as a topological insulator of the Z2 type with a gapless surface band in a Dirac-cone shape. The existence of a conjugated π -bond system on the surface of each Bi2Se3 quintuple layer is proposed based on an extended valence bond model with valence electrons distributed in the hybridized orbitals. Supporting experimental evidence of a two-dimensional (2D) conjugated π -bond system on each quintuple layer of Bi2Se3 is provided using electron energy-loss spectroscopy and electron density mapping through inverse Fourier transform of x-ray diffraction data. Quantum chemistry calculations support the π -bond existence between partially filled 4 pz orbitals of Se via side-to-side orbital overlap positively. The conjugated π -bond system on the surface of each quintuple Bi2Se3 layer is proposed to be similar to that found in graphite (graphene) and responsible for the unique 2D conduction mechanism. The van der Waals (vdW) attractive force between quintuple layers is interpreted to be coming from the antiferroelectrically ordered effective electric dipoles, which are constructed with π -bond trimer pairs on Se layers across the vdW gap of minimized Coulomb repulsion.

  7. Microscopic effects of Dy doping in the topological insulator Bi2Te3

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, L. B.; Steinke, N.-J.; Krieger, J. A.; Figueroa, A. I.; Kummer, K.; Lancaster, T.; Giblin, S. R.; Pratt, F. L.; Blundell, S. J.; Prokscha, T.; Suter, A.; Langridge, S.; Strocov, V. N.; Salman, Z.; van der Laan, G.; Hesjedal, T.

    2018-05-01

    Magnetic doping with transition metal ions is the most widely used approach to break time-reversal symmetry in a topological insulator (TI)—a prerequisite for unlocking the TI's exotic potential. Recently, we reported the doping of Bi2Te3 thin films with rare-earth ions, which, owing to their large magnetic moments, promise commensurately large magnetic gap openings in the topological surface states. However, only when doping with Dy has a sizable gap been observed in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which persists up to room temperature. Although disorder alone could be ruled out as a cause of the topological phase transition, a fundamental understanding of the magnetic and electronic properties of Dy-doped Bi2Te3 remained elusive. Here, we present an x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, polarized neutron reflectometry, muon-spin rotation, and resonant photoemission study of the microscopic magnetic and electronic properties. We find that the films are not simply paramagnetic but that instead the observed behavior can be well explained by the assumption of slowly fluctuating, inhomogeneous, magnetic patches with increasing volume fraction as the temperature decreases. At liquid helium temperatures, a large effective magnetization can be easily introduced by the application of moderate magnetic fields, implying that this material is very suitable for proximity coupling to an underlying ferromagnetic insulator or in a heterostructure with transition-metal-doped layers. However, the introduction of some charge carriers by the Dy dopants cannot be excluded at least in these highly doped samples. Nevertheless, we find that the magnetic order is not mediated via the conduction channel in these samples and therefore magnetic order and carrier concentration are expected to be independently controllable. This is not generally the case for transition-metal-doped topological insulators, and Dy doping should thus allow for improved TI quantum devices.

  8. Enhanced thermoelectric power in ultrathin topological insulators with magnetic doping

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.

    2014-09-07

    We derive analytical expressions for the magnetic moment and orbital magnetization as well as for the corresponding thermal conductivity and thermoelectric power of a topological insulator film. We demonstrate enhancement of the thermoelectric transport for decreasing film thickness and for application of an exchange field due to the tunable band gap. Combining hybridization and exchange field is particularly suitable for heat to electric energy conversion and thermoelectric cooling.

  9. Enhanced thermoelectric power in ultrathin topological insulators with magnetic doping

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.; Manchon, Aurelien; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2014-01-01

    We derive analytical expressions for the magnetic moment and orbital magnetization as well as for the corresponding thermal conductivity and thermoelectric power of a topological insulator film. We demonstrate enhancement of the thermoelectric transport for decreasing film thickness and for application of an exchange field due to the tunable band gap. Combining hybridization and exchange field is particularly suitable for heat to electric energy conversion and thermoelectric cooling.

  10. Conversion of spin current into charge current in a topological insulator: Role of the interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dey, Rik; Prasad, Nitin; Register, Leonard F.; Banerjee, Sanjay K.

    2018-05-01

    Three-dimensional spin current density injected onto the surface of a topological insulator (TI) produces a two-dimensional charge current density on the surface of the TI, which is the so-called inverse Edelstein effect (IEE). The ratio of the surface charge current density on the TI to the spin current density injected across the interface defined as the IEE length was shown to be exactly equal to the mean free path in the TI determined to be independent of the electron transmission rate across the interface [Phys. Rev. B 94, 184423 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevB.94.184423]. However, we find that the transmission rate across the interface gives a nonzero contribution to the transport relaxation rate in the TI as well as to the effective IEE relaxation rate (over and above any surface hybridization effects), and the IEE length is always less than the original mean free path in the TI without the interface. We show that both the IEE relaxation time and the transport relaxation time in the TI are modified by the interface transmission time. The correction becomes significant when the transmission time across the interface becomes comparable to or less than the original momentum scattering time in the TI. This correction is similar to experimental results in Rashba electron systems in which the IEE relaxation time was found shorter in the case of direct interface with metal in which the interface transmission rate will be much higher, compared to interfaces incorporating insulating oxides. Our results indicate the continued importance of the interface to obtain a better spin-to-charge current conversion and a limitation to the conversion efficiency due to the quality of the interface.

  11. Observation of the universal magnetoelectric effect in a 3D topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dziom, V.; Shuvaev, A.; Pimenov, A.; Astakhov, G. V.; Ames, C.; Bendias, K.; Böttcher, J.; Tkachov, G.; Hankiewicz, E. M.; Brüne, C.; Buhmann, H.; Molenkamp, L. W.

    2017-01-01

    The electrodynamics of topological insulators (TIs) is described by modified Maxwell's equations, which contain additional terms that couple an electric field to a magnetization and a magnetic field to a polarization of the medium, such that the coupling coefficient is quantized in odd multiples of α/4π per surface. Here we report on the observation of this so-called topological magnetoelectric effect. We use monochromatic terahertz (THz) spectroscopy of TI structures equipped with a semitransparent gate to selectively address surface states. In high external magnetic fields, we observe a universal Faraday rotation angle equal to the fine structure constant α=e2/2hc (in SI units) when a linearly polarized THz radiation of a certain frequency passes through the two surfaces of a strained HgTe 3D TI. These experiments give insight into axion electrodynamics of TIs and may potentially be used for a metrological definition of the three basic physical constants. PMID:28504268

  12. SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES: Two-dimensional threshold voltage analytical model of DMG strained-silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Li; Hongxia, Liu; Bin, Li; Lei, Cao; Bo, Yuan

    2010-08-01

    For the first time, a simple and accurate two-dimensional analytical model for the surface potential variation along the channel in fully depleted dual-material gate strained-Si-on-insulator (DMG SSOI) MOSFETs is developed. We investigate the improved short channel effect (SCE), hot carrier effect (HCE), drain-induced barrier-lowering (DIBL) and carrier transport efficiency for the novel structure MOSFET. The analytical model takes into account the effects of different metal gate lengths, work functions, the drain bias and Ge mole fraction in the relaxed SiGe buffer. The surface potential in the channel region exhibits a step potential, which can suppress SCE, HCE and DIBL. Also, strained-Si and SOI structure can improve the carrier transport efficiency, with strained-Si being particularly effective. Further, the threshold voltage model correctly predicts a “rollup" in threshold voltage with decreasing channel length ratios or Ge mole fraction in the relaxed SiGe buffer. The validity of the two-dimensional analytical model is verified using numerical simulations.

  13. Structural and proximity-induced ferromagnetic properties of topological insulator-magnetic insulator heterostructures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zilong Jiang

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The spontaneously broken time reversal symmetry can lead to the formation of an energy gap in the Dirac spectrum of the surface states of a topological insulator (TI which can consequently give rise to a variety of interesting phenomena potentially useful for spintronics. In this work, we couple a non-magnetic TI to a high Curie temperature TC magnetic insulator to induce strong exchange interaction via the proximity effect. We have successfully grown 5 quintuple layer thick ternary TI (BixSb1-x2Te3 films on atomically flat yttrium iron garnet (YIG film with the combination of molecular beam epitaxy and pulsed laser deposition, in which the Fermi level position relative to the Dirac point is varied by controlling the Bi:Sb ratio. The anomalous Hall effect (AHE and suppressed weak antilocalization (WAL measured under out of plane magnetic fields reveal that the TI surface in contact with YIG is magnetized. Our high-quality (BixSb1-x2Te3/Y IG heterostructure provides a tunable system for exploring the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE at higher temperatures in TI-based spintronic devices.

  14. A topologically twisted index for three-dimensional supersymmetric theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benini, Francesco; Zaffaroni, Alberto

    2015-01-01

    We provide a general formula for the partition function of three-dimensional N=2 gauge theories placed on S 2 ×S 1 with a topological twist along S 2 , which can be interpreted as an index for chiral states of the theories immersed in background magnetic fields. The result is expressed as a sum over magnetic fluxes of the residues of a meromorphic form which is a function of the scalar zero-modes. The partition function depends on a collection of background magnetic fluxes and fugacities for the global symmetries. We illustrate our formula in many examples of 3d Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons theories with matter, including Aharony and Giveon-Kutasov dualities. Finally, our formula generalizes to Ω-backgrounds, as well as two-dimensional theories on S 2 and four-dimensional theories on S 2 ×T 2 . In particular this provides an alternative way to compute genus-zero A-model topological amplitudes and Gromov-Witten invariants.

  15. Higgsless superconductivity from topological defects in compact BF terms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Cristina Diamantini

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available We present a new Higgsless model of superconductivity, inspired from anyon superconductivity but P- and T-invariant and generalisable to any dimension. While the original anyon superconductivity mechanism was based on incompressible quantum Hall fluids as average field states, our mechanism involves topological insulators as average field states. In D space dimensions it involves a (D−1-form fictitious pseudovector gauge field which originates from the condensation of topological defects in compact low-energy effective BF theories. In the average field approximation, the corresponding uniform emergent charge creates a gap for the (D−2-dimensional branes via the Magnus force, the dual of the Lorentz force. One particular combination of intrinsic and emergent charge fluctuations that leaves the total charge distribution invariant constitutes an isolated gapless mode leading to superfluidity. The remaining massive modes organise themselves into a D-dimensional charged, massive vector. There is no massive Higgs scalar as there is no local order parameter. When electromagnetism is switched on, the photon acquires mass by the topological BF mechanism. Although the charge of the gapless mode (2 and the topological order (4 are the same as those of the standard Higgs model, the two models of superconductivity are clearly different since the origins of the gap, reflected in the high-energy sectors are totally different. In 2D this type of superconductivity is explicitly realised as global superconductivity in Josephson junction arrays. In 3D this model predicts a possible phase transition from topological insulators to Higgsless superconductors.

  16. Spin pumping through a topological insulator probed by x-ray detected ferromagnetic resonance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Figueroa, A.I., E-mail: aifigueg@gmail.com [Magnetic Spectroscopy Group, Diamond Light Source, Didcot OX11 0DE (United Kingdom); Baker, A.A. [Magnetic Spectroscopy Group, Diamond Light Source, Didcot OX11 0DE (United Kingdom); Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU (United Kingdom); Collins-McIntyre, L.J.; Hesjedal, T. [Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU (United Kingdom); Laan, G. van der [Magnetic Spectroscopy Group, Diamond Light Source, Didcot OX11 0DE (United Kingdom)

    2016-02-15

    In the field of spintronics, the generation of a pure spin current (without macroscopic charge flow) through spin pumping of a ferromagnetic (FM) layer opens up the perspective of a new generation of dissipation-less devices. Microwave driven ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) can generate a pure spin current that enters adjacent layers, allowing for both magnetization reversal (through spin-transfer torque) and to probe spin coherence in non-magnetic materials. However, standard FMR is unable to probe multilayer dynamics directly, since the measurement averages over the contributions from the whole system. The synchrotron radiation-based technique of x-ray detected FMR (XFMR) offers an elegant solution to this drawback, giving access to element-, site-, and layer-specific dynamical measurements in heterostructures. In this work, we show how XFMR has provided unique information to understand spin pumping and spin transfer torque effects through a topological insulator (TI) layer in a pseudo-spin valve heterostructure. We demonstrate that TIs function as efficient spin sinks, while also allowing a limited dynamic coupling between ferromagnetic layers. These results shed new light on the spin dynamics of this novel class of materials, and suggest future directions for the development of room temperature TI-based spintronics. - Highlights: • X-ray detected ferromagnetic resonance is used to study the spin pumping phenomenon. • We show a powerful way to get information of spin transfer between magnetic layers. • We observe spin pumping through a topological insulators at room temperature. • Topological insulators function as efficient spin sinks.

  17. Spin pumping through a topological insulator probed by x-ray detected ferromagnetic resonance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Figueroa, A.I.; Baker, A.A.; Collins-McIntyre, L.J.; Hesjedal, T.; Laan, G. van der

    2016-01-01

    In the field of spintronics, the generation of a pure spin current (without macroscopic charge flow) through spin pumping of a ferromagnetic (FM) layer opens up the perspective of a new generation of dissipation-less devices. Microwave driven ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) can generate a pure spin current that enters adjacent layers, allowing for both magnetization reversal (through spin-transfer torque) and to probe spin coherence in non-magnetic materials. However, standard FMR is unable to probe multilayer dynamics directly, since the measurement averages over the contributions from the whole system. The synchrotron radiation-based technique of x-ray detected FMR (XFMR) offers an elegant solution to this drawback, giving access to element-, site-, and layer-specific dynamical measurements in heterostructures. In this work, we show how XFMR has provided unique information to understand spin pumping and spin transfer torque effects through a topological insulator (TI) layer in a pseudo-spin valve heterostructure. We demonstrate that TIs function as efficient spin sinks, while also allowing a limited dynamic coupling between ferromagnetic layers. These results shed new light on the spin dynamics of this novel class of materials, and suggest future directions for the development of room temperature TI-based spintronics. - Highlights: • X-ray detected ferromagnetic resonance is used to study the spin pumping phenomenon. • We show a powerful way to get information of spin transfer between magnetic layers. • We observe spin pumping through a topological insulators at room temperature. • Topological insulators function as efficient spin sinks.

  18. The Topology Optimization of Three-dimensional Cooling Fins by the Internal Element Connectivity Parameterization Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Sung Min; Kim, Yoon Young

    2007-01-01

    This work is concerned with the topology optimization of three-dimensional cooling fins or heat sinks. Motivated by earlier success of the Internal Element Connectivity Method (I-ECP) method in two dimensional problems, the extension of I-ECP to three-dimensional problems is carried out. The main efforts were made to maintain the numerical trouble-free characteristics of I-ECP for full three-dimensional problems; a serious numerical problem appearing in thermal topology optimization is erroneous temperature undershooting. The effectiveness of the present implementation was checked through the design optimization of three-dimensional fins

  19. Three-dimensional low-energy topological invariants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bakalarska, M.; Broda, B.

    2000-01-01

    A description of the one-loop approximation formula for the partition function of a three-dimensional abelian version of the Donaldson-Witten theory is proposed. The one-loop expression is shown to contain such topological invariants of a three-dimensional manifold M like the Reidemeister-Ray-Singer torsion τ R and Betti numbers. (orig.)

  20. Quantum capacitance in topological insulators under strain in a tilted magnetic field

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.

    2012-12-06

    Topological insulators exhibit unique properties due to surface states of massless Dirac fermions with conserved time reversal symmetry. We consider the quantum capacitance under strain in an external tilted magnetic field and demonstrate a minimum at the charge neutrality point due to splitting of the zeroth Landau level. We also find beating in the Shubnikov de Haas oscillations due to strain, which originate from the topological helical states. Varying the tilting angle from perpendicular to parallel washes out these oscillations with a strain induced gap at the charge neutrality point. Our results explain recent quantum capacitance and transport experiments.

  1. Quantum capacitance in topological insulators under strain in a tilted magnetic field

    KAUST Repository

    Tahir, M.; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

    2012-01-01

    Topological insulators exhibit unique properties due to surface states of massless Dirac fermions with conserved time reversal symmetry. We consider the quantum capacitance under strain in an external tilted magnetic field and demonstrate a minimum at the charge neutrality point due to splitting of the zeroth Landau level. We also find beating in the Shubnikov de Haas oscillations due to strain, which originate from the topological helical states. Varying the tilting angle from perpendicular to parallel washes out these oscillations with a strain induced gap at the charge neutrality point. Our results explain recent quantum capacitance and transport experiments.

  2. Triply degenerate nodal points and topological phase transitions in NaCu3Te2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Yunyouyou; Li, Gang

    2017-12-01

    Quasiparticle excitations of free electrons in condensed-matter physics, characterized by the dimensionality of the band crossing, can find their elementary-particle analogs in high-energy physics, such as Majorana, Weyl, and Dirac fermions, while crystalline symmetry allows more quasiparticle excitations and exotic fermions to emerge. Using symmetry analysis and ab initio calculations, we propose that the three-dimensional honeycomb crystal NaCu3Te2 hosts triply degenerate nodal points (TDNPs) residing at the Fermi level. Furthermore, in this system we find a tunable phase transition between a trivial insulator, a TDNP phase, and a weak topological insulator (TI), triggered by a symmetry-allowed perturbation and the spin-orbital coupling (SOC). Such a topological nontrivial ternary compound not only serves as a perfect candidate for studying three-component fermions, but also provides an excellent playground for understanding the topological phase transitions between TDNPs, TIs, and trivial insulators, which distinguishes this system from other TDNP candidates.

  3. Quantum coherent transport in SnTe topological crystalline insulator thin films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Assaf, B. A.; Heiman, D. [Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 (United States); Katmis, F.; Moodera, J. S. [Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States); Department of Physics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States); Wei, P. [Department of Physics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States); Satpati, B. [Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700064 (India); Zhang, Z. [Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States); Bennett, S. P.; Harris, V. G. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 (United States)

    2014-09-08

    Topological crystalline insulators (TCI) are unique systems where a band inversion that is protected by crystalline mirror symmetry leads to a multiplicity of topological surface states. Binary SnTe is an attractive lead-free TCI compound; the present work on high-quality thin films provides a route for increasing the mobility and reducing the carrier density of SnTe without chemical doping. Results of quantum coherent magnetotransport measurements reveal a multiplicity of Dirac surface states that are unique to TCI. Modeling of the weak antilocalization shows variations in the extracted number of carrier valleys that reflect the role of coherent intervalley scattering in coupling different Dirac states on the degenerate TCI surface.

  4. Single atom anisotropic magnetoresistance on a topological insulator surface

    KAUST Repository

    Narayan, Awadhesh; Rungger, Ivan; Sanvito, Stefano

    2015-01-01

    dimensional model valid for both single adatoms and magnetic clusters, which leads to a proposed device setup for experimental realization. Our results provide an explanation for the conflicting scattering experiments on magnetic adatoms on topological

  5. Detection of topological phase transitions through entropy measurements: The case of germanene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grassano, D.; Pulci, O.; Shubnyi, V. O.; Sharapov, S. G.; Gusynin, V. P.; Kavokin, A. V.; Varlamov, A. A.

    2018-05-01

    We propose a characterization tool for studies of the band structure of new materials promising for the observation of topological phase transitions. We show that a specific resonant feature in the entropy per electron dependence on the chemical potential may be considered as a fingerprint of the transition between topological and trivial insulator phases. The entropy per electron in a honeycomb two-dimensional crystal of germanene subjected to the external electric field is obtained from the first-principles calculation of the density of electronic states and the Maxwell relation. We demonstrate that, in agreement with the recent prediction of the analytical model, strong spikes in the entropy per particle dependence on the chemical potential appear at low temperatures. They are observed at the values of the applied bias both below and above the critical value that corresponds to the transition between the topological insulator and trivial insulator phases, whereas the giant resonant feature in the vicinity of the zero chemical potential is strongly suppressed at the topological transition point, in the low-temperature limit. In a wide energy range, the van Hove singularities in the electronic density of states manifest themselves as zeros in the entropy per particle dependence on the chemical potential.

  6. Surface charge conductivity of a topological insulator in a magnetic field: The effect of hexagonal warping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akzyanov, R. S.; Rakhmanov, A. L.

    2018-02-01

    We investigate the influence of hexagonal warping on the transport properties of topological insulators. We study the charge conductivity within Kubo formalism in the first Born approximation using low-energy expansion of the Hamiltonian near the Dirac point. The effects of disorder, magnetic field, and chemical-potential value are analyzed in detail. We find that the presence of hexagonal warping significantly affects the conductivity of the topological insulator. In particular, it gives rise to the growth of the longitudinal conductivity with the increase of the disorder and anisotropic anomalous in-plane magnetoresistance. Hexagonal warping also affects the quantum anomalous Hall effect and anomalous out-of-plane magnetoresistance. The obtained results are consistent with the experimental data.

  7. Two-dimensional orbital ordering in d{sup 1} Mott insulator Sr{sub 2}VO{sub 4}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Viennois, R; Giannini, E; Teyssier, J; Elia, J; Van der Marel, D [DPMC, Universite de Geneve, 24 quai Ernest Ansermet, CH-1211 Geneve (Switzerland); Deisenhofer, J, E-mail: Romain.Viennois@unige.c [Institute of Physics, University of Augsburg, Augsburg (Germany)

    2010-01-15

    The Mott insulator Sr{sub 2}VO{sub 4} is a unique d{sup 1} two-dimensional compound exhibiting an orbital ordering transition. In addition to the orbital ordering transition at about 100 K, we discovered a ferromagnetic transition below 10 K, thus confirming the predictions of recent band structure calculations. The magnetic properties proved to be strongly sensitive to the material purity, the actual oxygen stoichiometry and the crystallographic parameters. An additional transition is observed at 125 K, which is believed to be due to structural modifications.

  8. Topology of high-dimensional manifolds

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Farrell, F T [State University of New York, Binghamton (United States); Goettshe, L [Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste (Italy); Lueck, W [Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster, Muenster (Germany)

    2002-08-15

    The School on High-Dimensional Manifold Topology took place at the Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste from 21 May 2001 to 8 June 2001. The focus of the school was on the classification of manifolds and related aspects of K-theory, geometry, and operator theory. The topics covered included: surgery theory, algebraic K- and L-theory, controlled topology, homology manifolds, exotic aspherical manifolds, homeomorphism and diffeomorphism groups, and scalar curvature. The school consisted of 2 weeks of lecture courses and one week of conference. Thwo-part lecture notes volume contains the notes of most of the lecture courses.

  9. The noncommutative index theorem and the periodic table for disordered topological insulators and superconductors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katsura, Hosho; Koma, Tohru

    2018-03-01

    We study a wide class of topological free-fermion systems on a hypercubic lattice in spatial dimensions d ≥ 1. When the Fermi level lies in a spectral gap or a mobility gap, the topological properties, e.g., the integral quantization of the topological invariant, are protected by certain symmetries of the Hamiltonian against disorder. This generic feature is characterized by a generalized index theorem which is a noncommutative analog of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. The noncommutative index defined in terms of a pair of projections gives a precise formula for the topological invariant in each symmetry class in any dimension (d ≥ 1). Under the assumption on the nonvanishing spectral or mobility gap, we prove that the index formula reproduces Bott periodicity and all of the possible values of topological invariants in the classification table of topological insulators and superconductors. We also prove that the indices are robust against perturbations that do not break the symmetry of the unperturbed Hamiltonian.

  10. Topics in two dimensional conformal field theory and three dimensional topological lattice field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chung, Stephen-wei.

    1993-01-01

    The authors first construct new parafermions in two-dimensional conformal field theory, generalizing the Z L parafermion theories from integer L to rational L. These non-unitary parafermions have some novel features: an infinite number of currents with negative conformal dimensions for most (if not all) of them. String functions of these new parafermion theories are calculated. They also construct new representations of N = 2 superconformal field theories, whose characters are obtained in terms of these new string functions. They then generalize Felder's BRST cohomology method to construct the characters and branching functions of the SU(2) L x SU(2) K /SU(2) K+L coset theories, where one of the (K,L) is an integer. This method of obtaining the branching functions also serves as a check of their new Z L parafermion theories. The next topic is the Lagrangian formulation of conformal field theory. They construct a chiral gauged WZW theory where the gauge fields are chiral and belong to the subgroups H L and H R , which can be different groups. This new construction is beyond the ordinary vector gauged WZW theory, whose gauge group H is a subgroup of both G L and G R . In the special case where H L = H R , the quantum theory of chiral gauged WZW theory is equivalent to that of the vector gauged WZW theory. It can be further shown that the chiral gauged WZW theory is equivalent to [G L /H L ](z) direct-product [G R /H R ](bar z) coset models in conformal field theory. In the second half of this thesis, they construct topological lattice field theories in three dimensions. After defining a general class of local lattice field theories, they impose invariance under arbitrary topology-preserving deformations of the underlying lattice, which are generated by two local lattice moves. Invariant solutions are in one-to-one correspondence with Hopf algebras satisfying a certain constraint

  11. Tunable spin-charge conversion through topological phase transitions in zigzag nanoribbons

    KAUST Repository

    Li, Hang

    2016-06-29

    We study spin-orbit torques and charge pumping in magnetic quasi-one-dimensional zigzag nanoribbons with a hexagonal lattice, in the presence of large intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. Such a system experiences a topological phase transition from a trivial band insulator to a quantum spin Hall insulator by tuning of either the magnetization direction or the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. We find that the spin-charge conversion efficiency (i.e., spin-orbit torque and charge pumping) is dramatically enhanced at the topological transition, displaying a substantial angular anisotropy.

  12. Tunable spin-charge conversion through topological phase transitions in zigzag nanoribbons

    KAUST Repository

    Li, Hang; Manchon, Aurelien

    2016-01-01

    We study spin-orbit torques and charge pumping in magnetic quasi-one-dimensional zigzag nanoribbons with a hexagonal lattice, in the presence of large intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. Such a system experiences a topological phase transition from a trivial band insulator to a quantum spin Hall insulator by tuning of either the magnetization direction or the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. We find that the spin-charge conversion efficiency (i.e., spin-orbit torque and charge pumping) is dramatically enhanced at the topological transition, displaying a substantial angular anisotropy.

  13. Some Aspects of Mathematical and Physical Approaches for Topological Quantum Computation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. Kantser

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available A paradigm to build a quantum computer, based on topological invariants is highlighted. The identities in the ensemble of knots, links and braids originally discovered in relation to topological quantum field theory are shown: how they define Artin braid group -- the mathematical basis of topological quantum computation (TQC. Vector spaces of TQC correspond to associated strings of particle interactions, and TQC operates its calculations on braided strings of special physical quasiparticles -- anyons -- with non-Abelian statistics. The physical platform of TQC is to use the topological quantum numbers of such small groups of anyons as qubits and to perform operations on these qubits by exchanging the anyons, both within the groups that form the qubits and, for multi-qubit gates, between groups. By braiding two or more anyons, they acquire up a topological phase or Berry phase similar to that found in the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Topological matter such as fractional quantum Hall systems and novel discovered topological insulators open the way to form system of anyons -- Majorana fermions -- with the unique property of encoding and processing quantum information in a naturally fault-tolerant way. In the topological insulators, due to its fundamental attribute of topological surface state occurrence of the bound, Majorana fermions are generated at its heterocontact with superconductors. One of the key operations of TQC -- braiding of non-Abelian anyons: it is illustrated how it can be implemented in one-dimensional topological isolator wire networks.

  14. Quantized Response and Topological Magnetic Insulators with Inversion Symmetry

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Turner, A.M.; Zhang, Y.; Mong, R.S.K.; Vishwanath, A.

    2012-01-01

    We study three-dimensional insulators with inversion symmetry in which other point group symmetries, such as time reversal, are generically absent. We find that certain information about such materials’ behavior is determined by just the eigenvalues under inversion symmetry of occupied states at

  15. Multiphoton excitation and high-harmonics generation in topological insulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avetissian, H K; Avetissian, A K; Avchyan, B R; Mkrtchian, G F

    2018-05-10

    Multiphoton interaction of coherent electromagnetic radiation with 2D metallic carriers confined on the surface of the 3D topological insulator is considered. A microscopic theory describing the nonlinear interaction of a strong wave and metallic carriers with many-body Coulomb interaction is developed. The set of integrodifferential equations for the interband polarization and carrier occupation distribution is solved numerically. Multiphoton excitation of Fermi-Dirac sea of 2D massless carriers is considered for a THz pump wave. It is shown that in the moderately strong pump wave field along with multiphoton interband/intraband transitions the intense radiation of high harmonics takes place.

  16. Multiphoton excitation and high-harmonics generation in topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avetissian, H. K.; Avetissian, A. K.; Avchyan, B. R.; Mkrtchian, G. F.

    2018-05-01

    Multiphoton interaction of coherent electromagnetic radiation with 2D metallic carriers confined on the surface of the 3D topological insulator is considered. A microscopic theory describing the nonlinear interaction of a strong wave and metallic carriers with many-body Coulomb interaction is developed. The set of integrodifferential equations for the interband polarization and carrier occupation distribution is solved numerically. Multiphoton excitation of Fermi–Dirac sea of 2D massless carriers is considered for a THz pump wave. It is shown that in the moderately strong pump wave field along with multiphoton interband/intraband transitions the intense radiation of high harmonics takes place.

  17. Two Dimensional Heat Transfer around Penetrations in Multilayer Insulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Wesley L.; Kelly, Andrew O.; Jumper, Kevin M.

    2012-01-01

    The objective of this task was to quantify thermal losses involving integrating MLI into real life situations. Testing specifically focused on the effects of penetrations (including structural attachments, electrical conduit/feedthroughs, and fluid lines) through MLI. While there have been attempts at quantifying these losses both analytically and experimentally, none have included a thorough investigation of the methods and materials that could be used in such applications. To attempt to quantify the excess heat load coming into the system due to the integration losses, a calorimeter was designed to study two dimensional heat transfer through penetrated MLI. The test matrix was designed to take as many variables into account as was possible with the limited test duration and system size. The parameters varied were the attachment mechanism, the buffer material (for buffer attachment mechanisms only), the thickness of the buffer, and the penetration material. The work done under this task is an attempt to measure the parasitic heat loads and affected insulation areas produced by system integration, to model the parasitic loads, and from the model produce engineering equations to allow for the determination of parasitic heat loads in future applications. The methods of integration investigated were no integration, using a buffer to thermally isolate the strut from the MLI, and temperature matching the MLI on the strut. Several materials were investigated as a buffer material including aerogel blankets, aerogel bead packages, cryolite, and even an evacuated vacuum space (in essence a no buffer condition).

  18. Observation of symmetry-protected topological band with ultracold fermions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Bo; Zhang, Long; He, Chengdong; Poon, Ting Fung Jeffrey; Hajiyev, Elnur; Zhang, Shanchao; Liu, Xiong-Jun; Jo, Gyu-Boong

    2018-01-01

    Symmetry plays a fundamental role in understanding complex quantum matter, particularly in classifying topological quantum phases, which have attracted great interests in the recent decade. An outstanding example is the time-reversal invariant topological insulator, a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase in the symplectic class of the Altland-Zirnbauer classification. We report the observation for ultracold atoms of a noninteracting SPT band in a one-dimensional optical lattice and study quench dynamics between topologically distinct regimes. The observed SPT band can be protected by a magnetic group and a nonlocal chiral symmetry, with the band topology being measured via Bloch states at symmetric momenta. The topology also resides in far-from-equilibrium spin dynamics, which are predicted and observed in experiment to exhibit qualitatively distinct behaviors in quenching to trivial and nontrivial regimes, revealing two fundamental types of spin-relaxation dynamics related to bulk topology. This work opens the way to expanding the scope of SPT physics with ultracold atoms and studying nonequilibrium quantum dynamics in these exotic systems. PMID:29492457

  19. Interaction-driven sub-gap resonance in the topological Kondo insulator SmB6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuhrman, Wesley

    2015-03-01

    Samarium hexaboride (SmB6) is a strongly correlated Kondo Insulator with a non-trivial band-structure topology. I will discuss recent neutron scattering experiments and analysis that expose a 14 meV resonant mode in SmB6 and relate it to the low energy insulating band structure. Repeating outside the first Brillouin zone, the mode is coherent with a 5 d-like magnetic form factor. I will discuss how band inversion can be inferred from neutron scattering and show that a perturbative slave boson treatment of a hybridized 2 species (d/ f) band structure within an Anderson model can produce a spin exciton with the observed characteristics. This analysis provides a detailed physical picture of how the SmB6 band topology arises from strong electron interactions, and accounts for the 14 meV resonant mode as a magnetically active exciton. The work at IQM was supported by the US Department of Energy, office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Material Sciences and Engineering under Grant DE-FG02-08ER46544.

  20. Ultrathin Topological Insulator Bi 2 Se 3 Nanoribbons Exfoliated by Atomic Force Microscopy

    KAUST Repository

    Hong, Seung Sae; Kundhikanjana, Worasom; Cha, Judy J.; Lai, Keji; Kong, Desheng; Meister, Stefan; Kelly, Michael A.; Shen, Zhi-Xun; Cui, Yi

    2010-01-01

    Ultrathin topological insulator nanostructures, in which coupling between top and bottom surface states takes place, are of great intellectual and practical importance. Due to the weak van der Waals interaction between adjacent quintuple layers (QLs), the layered bismuth selenide (Bi2Se 3), a single Dirac-cone topological insulator with a large bulk gap, can be exfoliated down to a few QLs. In this paper, we report the first controlled mechanical exfoliation of Bi2Se3 nanoribbons (>50 QLs) by an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip down to a single QL. Microwave impedance microscopy is employed to map out the local conductivity of such ultrathin nanoribbons, showing drastic difference in sheet resistance between 1-2 QLs and 4-5 QLs. Transport measurement carried out on an exfoliated (>5 QLs) Bi2Se3 device shows nonmetallic temperature dependence of resistance, in sharp contrast to the metallic behavior seen in thick (>50 QLs) ribbons. These AFM-exfoliated thin nanoribbons afford interesting candidates for studying the transition from quantum spin Hall surface to edge states. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

  1. Ultrathin Topological Insulator Bi 2 Se 3 Nanoribbons Exfoliated by Atomic Force Microscopy

    KAUST Repository

    Hong, Seung Sae

    2010-08-11

    Ultrathin topological insulator nanostructures, in which coupling between top and bottom surface states takes place, are of great intellectual and practical importance. Due to the weak van der Waals interaction between adjacent quintuple layers (QLs), the layered bismuth selenide (Bi2Se 3), a single Dirac-cone topological insulator with a large bulk gap, can be exfoliated down to a few QLs. In this paper, we report the first controlled mechanical exfoliation of Bi2Se3 nanoribbons (>50 QLs) by an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip down to a single QL. Microwave impedance microscopy is employed to map out the local conductivity of such ultrathin nanoribbons, showing drastic difference in sheet resistance between 1-2 QLs and 4-5 QLs. Transport measurement carried out on an exfoliated (>5 QLs) Bi2Se3 device shows nonmetallic temperature dependence of resistance, in sharp contrast to the metallic behavior seen in thick (>50 QLs) ribbons. These AFM-exfoliated thin nanoribbons afford interesting candidates for studying the transition from quantum spin Hall surface to edge states. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

  2. Quantum and Classical Magnetoresistance in Ambipolar Topological Insulator Transistors with Gate-tunable Bulk and Surface Conduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Jifa; Chang, Cuizu; Cao, Helin; He, Ke; Ma, Xucun; Xue, Qikun; Chen, Yong P.

    2014-01-01

    Weak antilocalization (WAL) and linear magnetoresistance (LMR) are two most commonly observed magnetoresistance (MR) phenomena in topological insulators (TIs) and often attributed to the Dirac topological surface states (TSS). However, ambiguities exist because these phenomena could also come from bulk states (often carrying significant conduction in many TIs) and are observable even in non-TI materials. Here, we demonstrate back-gated ambipolar TI field-effect transistors in (Bi0.04Sb0.96)2Te3 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on SrTiO3(111), exhibiting a large carrier density tunability (by nearly 2 orders of magnitude) and a metal-insulator transition in the bulk (allowing switching off the bulk conduction). Tuning the Fermi level from bulk band to TSS strongly enhances both the WAL (increasing the number of quantum coherent channels from one to peak around two) and LMR (increasing its slope by up to 10 times). The SS-enhanced LMR is accompanied by a strongly nonlinear Hall effect, suggesting important roles of charge inhomogeneity (and a related classical LMR), although existing models of LMR cannot capture all aspects of our data. Our systematic gate and temperature dependent magnetotransport studies provide deeper insights into the nature of both MR phenomena and reveal differences between bulk and TSS transport in TI related materials. PMID:24810663

  3. Multiple topological phases in phononic crystals

    KAUST Repository

    Chen, Zeguo; Wu, Ying

    2017-01-01

    We report a new topological phononic crystal in a ring-waveguide acoustic system. In the previous reports on topological phononic crystals, there are two types of topological phases: quantum Hall phase and quantum spin Hall phase. A key point in achieving quantum Hall insulator is to break the time-reversal (TR) symmetry, and for quantum spin Hall insulator, the construction of pseudo-spin is necessary. We build such pseudo-spin states under particular crystalline symmetry (C-6v) and then break the degeneracy of the pseudo-spin states by introducing airflow to the ring. We study the topology evolution by changing both the geometric parameters of the unit cell and the strength of the applied airflow. We find that the system exhibits three phases: quantum spin Hall phase, conventional insulator phase and a new quantum anomalous Hall phase.

  4. Multiple topological phases in phononic crystals

    KAUST Repository

    Chen, Zeguo

    2017-11-20

    We report a new topological phononic crystal in a ring-waveguide acoustic system. In the previous reports on topological phononic crystals, there are two types of topological phases: quantum Hall phase and quantum spin Hall phase. A key point in achieving quantum Hall insulator is to break the time-reversal (TR) symmetry, and for quantum spin Hall insulator, the construction of pseudo-spin is necessary. We build such pseudo-spin states under particular crystalline symmetry (C-6v) and then break the degeneracy of the pseudo-spin states by introducing airflow to the ring. We study the topology evolution by changing both the geometric parameters of the unit cell and the strength of the applied airflow. We find that the system exhibits three phases: quantum spin Hall phase, conventional insulator phase and a new quantum anomalous Hall phase.

  5. Spin accumulation in disordered topological insulator ultrathin films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siu, Zhuo Bin; Ho, Cong Son; Tan, Seng Ghee; Jalil, Mansoor B. A.

    2017-08-01

    Topological insulator (TI) ultrathin films differ from the more commonly studied semi-infinite bulk TIs in that the former possess both top and bottom surfaces where the surface states localized at different surfaces can couple to one another across the finite thickness of the film. In the presence of an in-plane magnetization, the TI thin films display two distinct phases depending on which of the inter-surface coupling or the magnetization is stronger. In this work, we consider a Bi2Se3 TI thin film system with an in-plane magnetization and numerically calculate the resulting spin accumulation on both surfaces of the film due to an in-plane electric field to linear order. We describe a numerical scheme for performing the Kubo formula calculation in which we include impurity scattering and vertex corrections. We find that the sums of the spin accumulation over the two surfaces in the in-plane direction perpendicular to the magnetization and in the out of plane direction are antisymmetric in Fermi energy around the charge neutrality point and are non-vanishing only when the symmetry between the top and bottom TI surfaces is broken. The impurity scattering, in general, diminishes the magnitude of the spin accumulation.

  6. Topological insulator nanowires and nanowire hetero-junctions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Haiming; Zhao, Lukas; Wade, Travis; Konczykowski, Marcin; Krusin-Elbaum, Lia

    2014-03-01

    The existing topological insulator materials (TIs) continue to present a number of challenges to complete understanding of the physics of topological spin-helical Dirac surface conduction channels, owing to a relatively large charge conduction in the bulk. One way to reduce the bulk contribution and to increase surface-to-volume ratio is by nanostructuring. Here we report on the synthesis and characterization of Sb2Te3, Bi2Te3 nanowires and nanotubes and Sb2Te3/Bi2Te3 heterojunctions electrochemically grown in porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes with varied (from 50 to 150 nm) pore diameters. Stoichiometric rigid polycrystalline nanowires with controllable cross-sections were obtained using cell voltages in the 30 - 150 mV range. Transport measurements in up to 14 T magnetic fields applied along the nanowires show Aharonov-Bohm (A-B) quantum oscillations with periods corresponding to the nanowire diameters. All nanowires were found to exhibit sharp weak anti-localization (WAL) cusps, a characteristic signature of TIs. In addition to A-B oscillations, new quantization plateaus in magnetoresistance (MR) at low fields (< 0 . 7T) were observed. The analysis of MR as well as I - V characteristics of heterojunctions will be presented. Supported in part by NSF-DMR-1122594, NSF-DMR-1312483-MWN, and DOD-W911NF-13-1-0159.

  7. Vortices and gate-tunable bound states in a topological insulator coupled to superconducting leads

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finck, Aaron; Kurter, C.; Hor, Y. S.; van Harlingen, D. J.

    2014-03-01

    It has been predicted that zero energy Majorana bound states can be found in the core of vortices within topological superconductors. Here, we report on Andreev spectroscopy measurements of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 with a normal metal lead and one or more niobium leads. The niobium induces superconductivity in the Bi2Se3 through the proximity effect, leading to both signatures of Andreev reflection and a prominent re-entrant resistance effect. When a large magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the surface of the Bi2Se3, we observe multiple abrupt changes in the subgap conductance that are accompanied by sharp peaks in the dynamical resistance. These peaks are very sensitive to changes in magnetic field and disappear at temperatures associated with the critical temperature of the induced superconductivity. The appearance of the transitions and peaks can be tuned by a top gate. At high magnetic fields, we also find evidence of gate-tunable states, which can lead to stable zero-bias conductance peaks. We interpret our results in terms of a transition occurring within the proximity effect region of the topological insulator, likely due to the formation of vortices. We acknowledge support from Microsoft Project Q.

  8. Spin filter effect of hBN/Co detector electrodes in a 3D topological insulator spin valve

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaklinova, Kristina; Polyudov, Katharina; Burghard, Marko; Kern, Klaus

    2018-03-01

    Topological insulators emerge as promising components of spintronic devices, in particular for applications where all-electrical spin control is essential. While the capability of these materials to generate spin-polarized currents is well established, only very little is known about the spin injection/extraction into/out of them. Here, we explore the switching behavior of lateral spin valves comprising the 3D topological insulator Bi2Te2Se as channel, which is separated from ferromagnetic Cobalt detector contacts by an ultrathin hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) tunnel barrier. The corresponding contact resistance displays a notable variation, which is correlated with a change of the switching characteristics of the spin valve. For contact resistances below ~5 kΩ, the hysteresis in the switching curve reverses upon reversing the applied current, as expected for spin-polarized currents carried by the helical surface states. By contrast, for higher contact resistances an opposite polarity of the hysteresis loop is observed, which is independent of the current direction, a behavior signifying negative spin detection efficiency of the multilayer hBN/Co contacts combined with bias-induced spin signal inversion. Our findings suggest the possibility to tune the spin exchange across the interface between a ferromagnetic metal and a topological insulator through the number of intervening hBN layers.

  9. Interaction between the intrinsic edge state and the helical boundary state of topological insulator phase in bilayer graphene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lü, Xiaoling [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022 (China); Jiang, Liwei [National Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Department of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130012 (China); Zheng, Yisong, E-mail: zhengys@jlu.edu.cn [National Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Department of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130012 (China)

    2016-04-22

    Graphene has intrinsic edge states localized at zigzag edge or lattice defect. Helical boundary states can also be established in such a two-dimensional carbon material at the boundary of topological insulator (TI) phase realized by the extrinsic Rashba spin–orbital coupling (SOC) in gated bilayer graphene. We theoretically investigate the interaction between these two kinds of edge (boundary) states when they coexist in a bilayer graphene. We find that this interaction gives rise to some very interesting results. In a zigzag edged nanoribbon of bilayer graphene, it is possible that the TI helical state does not localize at the TI phase boundary. Instead it moves to the nanoribbon edge even though the SOC is absent therein. In a bulk lattice of bilayer graphene embedded with two line defects, the numbers of helical state subbands at the two line defects are not equal to each other. In such a case, the backscattering lacking is still forbidden since the Kramers pairs are valley polarized. - Highlights: • The TI helical state moves to nanoribbon edge in a gated ZENR-BG. • The gapless modes of LD-BG at the two line defects are not equal to each other. • The Kramers pairs are still valley polarized in a gated LD-BG.

  10. Sensitivity of quantum walks to a boundary of two-dimensional lattices: approaches based on the CGMV method and topological phases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Endo, Takako; Konno, Norio; Obuse, Hideaki; Segawa, Etsuo

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we treat quantum walks in a two-dimensional lattice with cutting edges along a straight boundary introduced by Asboth and Edge (2015 Phys. Rev . A 91 022324) in order to study one-dimensional edge states originating from topological phases of matter and to obtain collateral evidence of how a quantum walker reacts to the boundary. Firstly, we connect this model to the CMV matrix, which provides a 5-term recursion relation of the Laurent polynomial associated with spectral measure on the unit circle. Secondly, we explicitly derive the spectra of bulk and edge states of the quantum walk with the boundary using spectral analysis of the CMV matrix. Thirdly, while topological numbers of the model studied so far are well-defined only when gaps in the bulk spectrum exist, we find a new topological number defined only when there are no gaps in the bulk spectrum. We confirm that the existence of the spectrum for edge states derived from the CMV matrix is consistent with the prediction from a bulk-edge correspondence using topological numbers calculated in the cases where gaps in the bulk spectrum do or do not exist. Finally, we show how the edge states contribute to the asymptotic behavior of the quantum walk through limit theorems of the finding probability. Conversely, we also propose a differential equation using this limit distribution whose solution is the underlying edge state. (paper)

  11. Conduction spectroscopy of a proximity induced superconducting topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stehno, M. P.; Hendrickx, N. W.; Snelder, M.; Scholten, T.; Huang, Y. K.; Golden, M. S.; Brinkman, A.

    2017-09-01

    The combination of superconductivity and the helical spin-momentum locking at the surface state of a topological insulator (TI) has been predicted to give rise to p-wave superconductivity and Majorana bound states. The superconductivity can be induced by the proximity effect of a s-wave superconductor (S) into the TI. To probe the superconducting correlations inside the TI, dI/dV spectroscopy has been performed across such S-TI interfaces. Both the alloyed Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.7Se1.3 and the stoichiometric BiSbTeSe2 have been used as three-dimensional TI. In the case of Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.7Se1.3, the presence of disorder induced electron-electron interactions can give rise to an additional zero-bias resistance peak. For the stoichiometric BiSbTeSe2 with less disorder, tunnel barriers were employed in order to enhance the signal from the interface. The general observations in the spectra of a large variety of samples are conductance dips at the induced gap voltage, combined with an increased sub-gap conductance, consistent with p-wave predictions. The induced gap voltage is typically smaller than the gap of the Nb superconducting electrode, especially in the presence of an intentional tunnel barrier. Additional uncovered spectroscopic features are oscillations that are linearly spaced in energy, as well as a possible second order parameter component.

  12. Quasi-Two-Dimensional h-BN/β-Ga2O3 Heterostructure Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Janghyuk; Mastro, Michael A; Tadjer, Marko J; Kim, Jihyun

    2017-06-28

    β-gallium oxide (β-Ga 2 O 3 ) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) heterostructure-based quasi-two-dimensional metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MISFETs) were demonstrated by integrating mechanical exfoliation of (quasi)-two-dimensional materials with a dry transfer process, wherein nanothin flakes of β-Ga 2 O 3 and h-BN were utilized as the channel and gate dielectric, respectively, of the MISFET. The h-BN dielectric, which has an extraordinarily flat and clean surface, provides a minimal density of charged impurities on the interface between β-Ga 2 O 3 and h-BN, resulting in superior device performances (maximum transconductance, on/off ratio, subthreshold swing, and threshold voltage) compared to those of the conventional back-gated configurations. Also, double-gating of the fabricated device was demonstrated by biasing both top and bottom gates, achieving the modulation of the threshold voltage. This heterostructured wide-band-gap nanodevice shows a new route toward stable and high-power nanoelectronic devices.

  13. Doped Sc2C(OH)2 MXene: new type s-pd band inversion topological insulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balcı, Erdem; Akkuş, Ünal Özden; Berber, Savas

    2018-04-18

    The electronic structures of Si and Ge substitutionally doped Sc 2 C(OH) 2 MXene monolayers are investigated in density functional theory. The doped systems exhibit band inversion, and are found to be topological invariants in Z 2 theory. The inclusion of spin orbit coupling results in band gap openings. Our results point out that the Si and Ge doped Sc 2 C(OH) 2 MXene monolayers are topological insulators. The band inversion is observed to have a new mechanism that involves s and pd states.

  14. Doped Sc2C(OH)2 MXene: new type s-pd band inversion topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balcı, Erdem; Özden Akkuş, Ünal; Berber, Savas

    2018-04-01

    The electronic structures of Si and Ge substitutionally doped Sc2C(OH)2 MXene monolayers are investigated in density functional theory. The doped systems exhibit band inversion, and are found to be topological invariants in Z 2 theory. The inclusion of spin orbit coupling results in band gap openings. Our results point out that the Si and Ge doped Sc2C(OH)2 MXene monolayers are topological insulators. The band inversion is observed to have a new mechanism that involves s and pd states.

  15. Ferromagnetism in the two-dimensional periodic Anderson model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Batista, C. D.; Bonca, J.; Gubernatis, J. E.

    2001-01-01

    Using the constrained-path Monte Carlo method, we studied the magnetic properties of the two-dimensional periodic Anderson model for electron fillings between 1/4 and 1/2. We also derived two effective low-energy theories to assist in interpreting the numerical results. For 1/4 filling, we found that the system can be a Mott or a charge-transfer insulator, depending on the relative values of the Coulomb interaction and the charge-transfer gap between the two noninteracting bands. The insulator may be a paramagnet or antiferromagnet. We concentrated on the effect of electron doping on these insulating phases. Upon doping we obtained a partially saturated ferromagnetic phase for low concentrations of conduction electrons. If the system were a charge-transfer insulator, we would find that the ferromagnetism is induced by the well-known Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction. However, we found a novel correlated hopping mechanism inducing the ferromagnetism in the region where the nondoped system is a Mott insulator. Our regions of ferromagnetism spanned a much smaller doping range than suggested by recent slave boson and dynamical mean-field theory calculations, but they were consistent with that obtained by density-matrix renormalization group calculations of the one-dimensional periodic Anderson model

  16. Designing in-plane heterostructures of quantum spin Hall insulators from first principles: 1T'-MoS2 with adsorbates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Thomas

    2016-01-01

    opportunity to change the local topology by adsorption of atoms or molecules and thus comprise an ideal platform for designing topological heterostructures. Here we apply first-principles calculations to show that the quantum spin Hall insulator 1T'-MoS2 exhibits a phase transition to a trivial insulator upon....... This is in sharp contrast to topological edge states, which typically exhibit strong dispersion that are sensitive to a particular edge termination. The heterostructure is also suggestive of a simple design of one-dimensional metallic networks in sheets of 1T'-MoS2....

  17. Multiple topological phase transitions in a gyromagnetic photonic crystal

    KAUST Repository

    Chen, Zeguo

    2017-04-19

    We present the design of a tunable two-dimensional photonic crystal that exhibits multiple topological phases, including a conventional insulator phase, a quantum spin Hall phase, and a quantum anomalous Hall phase under different combinations of geometric parameters and external magnetic fields. Our photonic crystal enables a platform to study the topology evolution attributed to the interplay between crystalline symmetry and time-reversal symmetry. A four-band tight-binding model unambiguously reveals that the topological property is associated with the pseudospin orientations and that it is characterized by the spin Chern number. The emerging quantum anomalous Hall phase features a single helical edge state that is locked by a specific pseudospin. Simulation results demonstrate that the propagation of such a single helical edge state is robust against magnetic impurities. Potential applications, such as spin splitters, are described.

  18. X-boson cumulant approach to the topological Kondo insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos, E.; Franco, R.; Silva-Valencia, J.; Foglio, M. E.; Figueira, M. S.

    2014-12-01

    In this work we present a generalization of our previous work of the X-boson approach to the periodic Anderson model (PAM), adequate to study a novel class of intermetallic 4f and 5f orbitals materials: the topological Kondo insulators, whose paradigmatic material is the compound SmB6. For simplicity, we consider a version of the PAM on a 2D square lattice, adequate to describe Ce-based compounds in two dimensions. The starting point of the model is the 4f - Ce ions orbitals, with J = 5/2 multiplet, in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. Our technique works well for all of the parameters of the model and avoids the unwanted phase transitions of the slave boson mean field theory. We present a critical comparison of our results with those of the usual slave boson method, that has been intensively used to describe this class of materials. We also obtain a new valence first order transition which we attribute to the vec k dependence of the hybridization.

  19. Momentum-space cigar geometry in topological phases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palumbo, Giandomenico

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we stress the importance of momentum-space geometry in the understanding of two-dimensional topological phases of matter. We focus, for simplicity, on the gapped boundary of three-dimensional topological insulators in class AII, which are described by a massive Dirac Hamiltonian and characterized by an half-integer Chern number. The gap is induced by introducing a magnetic perturbation, such as an external Zeeman field or a ferromagnet on the surface. The quantum Bures metric acquires a central role in our discussion and identifies a cigar geometry. We first derive the Chern number from the cigar geometry and we then show that the quantum metric can be seen as a solution of two-dimensional non-Abelian BF theory in momentum space. The gauge connection for this model is associated to the Maxwell algebra, which takes into account the Lorentz symmetries related to the Dirac theory and the momentum-space magnetic translations connected to the magnetic perturbation. The Witten black-hole metric is a solution of this gauge theory and coincides with the Bures metric. This allows us to calculate the corresponding momentum-space entanglement entropy that surprisingly carries information about the real-space conformal field theory describing the defect lines that can be created on the gapped boundary.

  20. Interaction between counter-propagating quantum Hall edge channels in the 3D topological insulator BiSbTeSe2

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Li, C.; De Ronde, B.; Nikitin, A.; Huang, Y.; Golden, M.S.; De Visser, A.; Brinkman, A.

    2017-01-01

    The quantum Hall effect is studied in the topological insulator BiSbTeSe2. By employing top- and back-gate electric fields at high magnetic field, the Landau levels of the Dirac cones in the top and bottom topological surface states can be tuned independently. When one surface is tuned to the

  1. Strong correlation effects on surfaces of topological insulators via holography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, Yunseok; Song, Geunho; Sin, Sang-Jin

    2017-07-01

    We investigate the effects of strong correlation on the surface state of a topological insulator (TI). We argue that electrons in the regime of crossover from weak antilocalization to weak localization are strongly correlated, and calculate the magnetotransport coefficients of TIs using the gauge-gravity principle. Then, we examine the magnetoconductivity (MC) formula and find excellent agreement with the data of chrome-doped Bi2Te3 in the crossover regime. We also find that the cusplike peak in MC at low doping is absent, which is natural since quasiparticles disappear due to the strong correlation.

  2. Stability of low-carrier-density topological-insulator Bi2Se3 thin films and effect of capping layers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salehi, Maryam; Brahlek, Matthew; Koirala, Nikesh; Moon, Jisoo; Oh, Seongshik; Wu, Liang; Armitage, N. P.

    2015-01-01

    Although over the past number of years there have been many advances in the materials aspects of topological insulators (TIs), one of the ongoing challenges with these materials is the protection of them against aging. In particular, the recent development of low-carrier-density bulk-insulating Bi 2 Se 3 thin films and their sensitivity to air demands reliable capping layers to stabilize their electronic properties. Here, we study the stability of the low-carrier-density Bi 2 Se 3 thin films in air with and without various capping layers using DC and THz probes. Without any capping layers, the carrier density increases by ∼150% over a week and by ∼280% over 9 months. In situ-deposited Se and ex situ-deposited poly(methyl methacrylate) suppress the aging effect to ∼27% and ∼88%, respectively, over 9 months. The combination of effective capping layers and low-carrier-density TI films will open up new opportunities in topological insulators

  3. One-Dimensional Mass-Spring Chains Supporting Elastic Waves with Non-Conventional Topology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available There are two classes of phononic structures that can support elastic waves with non-conventional topology, namely intrinsic and extrinsic systems. The non-conventional topology of elastic wave results from breaking time reversal symmetry (T-symmetry of wave propagation. In extrinsic systems, energy is injected into the phononic structure to break T-symmetry. In intrinsic systems symmetry is broken through the medium microstructure that may lead to internal resonances. Mass-spring composite structures are introduced as metaphors for more complex phononic crystals with non-conventional topology. The elastic wave equation of motion of an intrinsic phononic structure composed of two coupled one-dimensional (1D harmonic chains can be factored into a Dirac-like equation, leading to antisymmetric modes that have spinor character and therefore non-conventional topology in wave number space. The topology of the elastic waves can be further modified by subjecting phononic structures to externally-induced spatio-temporal modulation of their elastic properties. Such modulations can be actuated through photo-elastic effects, magneto-elastic effects, piezo-electric effects or external mechanical effects. We also uncover an analogy between a combined intrinsic-extrinsic systems composed of a simple one-dimensional harmonic chain coupled to a rigid substrate subjected to a spatio-temporal modulation of the side spring stiffness and the Dirac equation in the presence of an electromagnetic field. The modulation is shown to be able to tune the spinor part of the elastic wave function and therefore its topology. This analogy between classical mechanics and quantum phenomena offers new modalities for developing more complex functions of phononic crystals and acoustic metamaterials.

  4. Weak antilocalization effect and noncentrosymmetric superconductivity in a topologically nontrivial semimetal LuPdBi

    KAUST Repository

    Xu, Guizhou; Wang, Wenhong; Zhang, Xiaoming; Du, Yin; Liu, Enke; Wang, Shouguo; Wu, Guangheng; Liu, Zhongyuan; Zhang, Xixiang

    2014-01-01

    A large number of half-Heusler compounds have been recently proposed as three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TIs) with tunable physical properties. However, no transport measurements associated with the topological surface states have been observed in these half-Heusler candidates due to the dominating contribution from bulk electrical conductance. Here we show that, by reducing the mobility of bulk carriers, a two-dimensional (2D) weak antilocalization (WAL) effect, one of the hallmarks of topological surface states, was experimentally revealed from the tilted magnetic field dependence of magnetoconductance in a topologically nontrivial semimetal LuPdBi. Besides the observation of a 2D WAL effect, a superconducting transition was revealed at T c ∼ 1.7â.K in the same bulk LuPdBi. Quantitative analysis within the framework of a generalized BCS theory leads to the conclusion that the noncentrosymmetric superconductivity of LuPdBi is fully gapped with a possibly unconventional pairing character. The co-existence of superconductivity and the transport signature of topological surface states in the same bulk alloy suggests that LuPdBi represents a very promising candidate as a topological superconductor.

  5. Weak antilocalization effect and noncentrosymmetric superconductivity in a topologically nontrivial semimetal LuPdBi

    KAUST Repository

    Xu, Guizhou

    2014-07-21

    A large number of half-Heusler compounds have been recently proposed as three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TIs) with tunable physical properties. However, no transport measurements associated with the topological surface states have been observed in these half-Heusler candidates due to the dominating contribution from bulk electrical conductance. Here we show that, by reducing the mobility of bulk carriers, a two-dimensional (2D) weak antilocalization (WAL) effect, one of the hallmarks of topological surface states, was experimentally revealed from the tilted magnetic field dependence of magnetoconductance in a topologically nontrivial semimetal LuPdBi. Besides the observation of a 2D WAL effect, a superconducting transition was revealed at T c ∼ 1.7â.K in the same bulk LuPdBi. Quantitative analysis within the framework of a generalized BCS theory leads to the conclusion that the noncentrosymmetric superconductivity of LuPdBi is fully gapped with a possibly unconventional pairing character. The co-existence of superconductivity and the transport signature of topological surface states in the same bulk alloy suggests that LuPdBi represents a very promising candidate as a topological superconductor.

  6. Andreev Reflection Spectroscopy of Nb-doped Bi2Se3 Topological Insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurter, C.; Finck, A. D. K.; Qiu, Y.; Huemiller, E.; Weis, A.; Atkinson, J.; Medvedeva, J.; Hor, Y. S.; van Harlingen, D. J.

    2015-03-01

    Doped topological insulators are speculated to realize p-wave superconductivity with unusual low energy quasiparticles, such as surface Andreev bound states. We present point contact spectroscopy of thin exfoliated flakes of Nb-doped Bi2Se3 where superconductivity persists up to ~ 1 K, compared to 3.2 K in bulk crystals. The critical magnetic field is strongly anisotropic, consistent with quasi-2D behavior. Andreev reflection measurements of devices with low resistance contacts result in prominent BTK-like behavior with an enhanced conductance plateau at low bias. For high resistance contacts, we observe a split zero bias conductance anomaly and additional features at the superconducting gap. Our results suggest that this material is a promising platform for studying topological superconductivity. We acknowledge support from Microsoft Project Q.

  7. Fracton topological order from nearest-neighbor two-spin interactions and dualities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slagle, Kevin; Kim, Yong Baek

    2017-10-01

    Fracton topological order describes a remarkable phase of matter, which can be characterized by fracton excitations with constrained dynamics and a ground-state degeneracy that increases exponentially with the length of the system on a three-dimensional torus. However, previous models exhibiting this order require many-spin interactions, which may be very difficult to realize in a real material or cold atom system. In this work, we present a more physically realistic model which has the so-called X-cube fracton topological order [Vijay, Haah, and Fu, Phys. Rev. B 94, 235157 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevB.94.235157] but only requires nearest-neighbor two-spin interactions. The model lives on a three-dimensional honeycomb-based lattice with one to two spin-1/2 degrees of freedom on each site and a unit cell of six sites. The model is constructed from two orthogonal stacks of Z2 topologically ordered Kitaev honeycomb layers [Kitaev, Ann. Phys. 321, 2 (2006), 10.1016/j.aop.2005.10.005], which are coupled together by a two-spin interaction. It is also shown that a four-spin interaction can be included to instead stabilize 3+1D Z2 topological order. We also find dual descriptions of four quantum phase transitions in our model, all of which appear to be discontinuous first-order transitions.

  8. Interfacial Dirac cones from alternating topological invariant superlattice structures of Bi2Se3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Jung-Hwan; Jin, Hosub; Freeman, Arthur J

    2010-08-27

    When the three-dimensional topological insulators Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 have an interface with vacuum, i.e., a surface, they show remarkable features such as topologically protected and spin-momentum locked surface states. However, for practical applications, one often requires multiple interfaces or channels rather than a single surface. Here, for the first time, we show that an interfacial and ideal Dirac cone is realized by alternating band and topological insulators. The multichannel Dirac fermions from the superlattice structures open a new way for applications such as thermoelectric and spintronics devices. Indeed, utilizing the interfacial Dirac fermions, we also demonstrate the possible power factor improvement for thermoelectric applications.

  9. Topological organization of (low-dimensional) chaos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tufillaro, N.B.

    1992-01-01

    Recent progress toward classifying low-dimensional chaos measured from time series data is described. This classification theory assigns a template to the time series once the time series is embedded in three dimensions. The template describes the primary folding and stretching mechanisms of phase space responsible for the chaotic motion. Topological invariants of the unstable periodic orbits in the closure of the strange set are calculated from the (reconstructed) template. These topological invariants must be consistent with ampersand ny model put forth to describe the time series data, and are useful in invalidating (or gaining confidence in) any model intended to describe the dynamical system generating the time series

  10. Yang Monopoles and Emergent Three-Dimensional Topological Defects in Interacting Bosons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Yangqian; Zhou, Qi

    2018-06-01

    The Yang monopole as a zero-dimensional topological defect has been well established in multiple fields in physics. However, it remains an intriguing question to understand the interaction effects on Yang monopoles. Here, we show that the collective motion of many interacting bosons gives rise to exotic topological defects that are distinct from Yang monopoles seen by a single particle. Whereas interactions may distribute Yang monopoles in the parameter space or glue them to a single giant one of multiple charges, three-dimensional topological defects also arise from continuous manifolds of degenerate many-body eigenstates. Their projections in lower dimensions lead to knotted nodal lines and nodal rings. Our results suggest that ultracold bosonic atoms can be used to create emergent topological defects and directly measure topological invariants that are not easy to access in solids.

  11. Floquet Engineering of Optical Solenoids and Quantized Charge Pumping along Tailored Paths in Two-Dimensional Chern Insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Botao; Ünal, F. Nur; Eckardt, André

    2018-06-01

    The insertion of a local magnetic flux, as the one created by a thin solenoid, plays an important role in gedanken experiments of quantum Hall physics. By combining Floquet engineering of artificial magnetic fields with the ability of single-site addressing in quantum gas microscopes, we propose a scheme for the realization of such local solenoid-type magnetic fields in optical lattices. We show that it can be employed to manipulate and probe elementary excitations of a topological Chern insulator. This includes quantized adiabatic charge pumping along tailored paths inside the bulk, as well as the controlled population of edge modes.

  12. Simulation of a two-dimensional sheath over a flat insulator-conductor interface on a radio-frequency biased electrode in a high-density plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Doosik; Economou, Demetre J.

    2004-01-01

    A combined fluid/Monte Carlo (MC) simulation was developed to study the two-dimensional (2D) sheath over a flat insulator/conductor interface on a radio-frequency (rf) biased electrode in a high-density plasma. The insulator capacitance increased the local impedance between the plasma and the bias voltage source. Thus, for uniform ion density and electron temperature far away from the wall, the sheath potential over the insulator was only a fraction of that over the conductor, resulting in a thinner sheath over the insulator. The fluid model provided the spatiotemporal profiles of the 2D sheath electric field. These were used as input to the MC simulation to compute the ion energy distribution (IED) and ion angular distribution (IAD) at different locations on the surface. The ion flux, IED, and IAD changed drastically across the insulator/conductor interface due to the diverging rf electric field in the distorted sheath. The ion flux was larger on the conductor at the expense of that on the insulator. Both the ion impact angle and angular spread increased progressively as the material interface was approached. The ion impact energy and energy spread were smaller on the insulator as compared to the conductor. For given plasma parameters, as the insulator thickness was increased, the sheath potential and thickness over the insulator decreased, and sheath distortion became more pronounced

  13. Quantification of topological changes of vorticity contours in two-dimensional Navier-Stokes flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohkitani, Koji; Al Sulti, Fayeza

    2010-06-01

    A characterization of reconnection of vorticity contours is made by direct numerical simulations of the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes flow at a relatively low Reynolds number. We identify all the critical points of the vorticity field and classify them by solving an eigenvalue problem of its Hessian matrix on the basis of critical-point theory. The numbers of hyperbolic (saddles) and elliptic (minima and maxima) points are confirmed to satisfy Euler's index theorem numerically. Time evolution of these indices is studied for a simple initial condition. Generally speaking, we have found that the indices are found to decrease in number with time. This result is discussed in connection with related works on streamline topology, in particular, the relationship between stagnation points and the dissipation. Associated elementary procedures in physical space, the merging of vortices, are studied in detail for a number of snapshots. A similar analysis is also done using the stream function.

  14. Effect of strong disorder on three-dimensional chiral topological insulators: Phase diagrams, maps of the bulk invariant, and existence of topological extended bulk states

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Juntao; Fine, Carolyn; Prodan, Emil

    2014-11-01

    The effect of strong disorder on chiral-symmetric three-dimensional lattice models is investigated via analytical and numerical methods. The phase diagrams of the models are computed using the noncommutative winding number, as functions of disorder strength and model's parameters. The localized/delocalized characteristic of the quantum states is probed with level statistics analysis. Our study reconfirms the accurate quantization of the noncommutative winding number in the presence of strong disorder, and its effectiveness as a numerical tool. Extended bulk states are detected above and below the Fermi level, which are observed to undergo the so-called "levitation and pair annihilation" process when the system is driven through a topological transition. This suggests that the bulk invariant is carried by these extended states, in stark contrast with the one-dimensional case where the extended states are completely absent and the bulk invariant is carried by the localized states.

  15. Magneto-transport studies on Bi2Te2+xSe1–x (x = 0.05 and 0.10 topological insulators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bushra Irfan

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Bi2Te2Se is one of the most promising three dimensional topological insulators, for the study of surface states. In this work, we report the results of transport and magneto-transport behavior of Bi2Te2+xSe1–x (x=0.05 and 0.10 single crystals grown using modified Bridgeman technique. Resistance versus temperature measurements show semiconducting behavior for x = 0.05 and 0.10 crystals. Linear magnetoresistance is observed for Bi2Te2.05Se0.95 (i.e. x=0.05 whereas, Bi2Te2.10Se0.90 (x=0.10 single crystal shows a conductance fluctuations at low magnetic field.

  16. Gigantic negative magnetoresistance in the bulk of a disordered topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breunig, Oliver; Wang, Zhiwei; Taskin, A. A.; Lux, Jonathan; Rosch, Achim; Ando, Yoichi

    2017-05-01

    With the recent discovery of Weyl semimetals, the phenomenon of negative magnetoresistance (MR) is attracting renewed interest. Large negative MR is usually related to magnetism, but the chiral anomaly in Weyl semimetals is a rare exception. Here we report a mechanism for large negative MR which is also unrelated to magnetism but is related to disorder. In the nearly bulk-insulating topological insulator TlBi0.15Sb0.85Te2, we observed gigantic negative MR reaching 98% in 14 T at 10 K, which is unprecedented in a nonmagnetic system. Supported by numerical simulations, we argue that this phenomenon is likely due to the Zeeman effect on a barely percolating current path formed in the disordered bulk. Since disorder can also lead to non-saturating linear MR in Ag2+δSe, the present finding suggests that disorder engineering in narrow-gap systems is useful for realizing gigantic MR in both positive and negative directions.

  17. Gigantic negative magnetoresistance in the bulk of a disordered topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breunig, Oliver; Wang, Zhiwei; Taskin, A A; Lux, Jonathan; Rosch, Achim; Ando, Yoichi

    2017-01-01

    With the recent discovery of Weyl semimetals, the phenomenon of negative magnetoresistance (MR) is attracting renewed interest. Large negative MR is usually related to magnetism, but the chiral anomaly in Weyl semimetals is a rare exception. Here we report a mechanism for large negative MR which is also unrelated to magnetism but is related to disorder. In the nearly bulk-insulating topological insulator TlBi0.15Sb0.85Te2, we observed gigantic negative MR reaching 98% in 14 T at 10 K, which is unprecedented in a nonmagnetic system. Supported by numerical simulations, we argue that this phenomenon is likely due to the Zeeman effect on a barely percolating current path formed in the disordered bulk. Since disorder can also lead to non-saturating linear MR in Ag2+δSe, the present finding suggests that disorder engineering in narrow-gap systems is useful for realizing gigantic MR in both positive and negative directions. PMID:28541291

  18. Large linear magnetoresistance and shubnikov-de hass oscillations in single crystals of YPdBi heusler topological insulators

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Wenhong; Du, Yin; Xu, Guizhou; Zhang, Xiaoming; Liu, Enke; Liu, Zhongyuan; Shi, Youguo; Chen, Jinglan; Wu, Guangheng; Zhang, Xixiang

    2013-01-01

    We report the observation of a large linear magnetoresistance (MR) and Shubnikov-de Hass (SdH) quantum oscillations in single crystals of YPdBi Heusler topological insulators. Owning to the successfully obtained the high-quality YPdBi single crystals, large non-saturating linear MR of as high as 350% at 5K and over 120% at 300K under a moderate magnetic field of 7T is observed. In addition to the large, field-linear MR, the samples exhibit pronounced SdH quantum oscillations at low temperature. Analysis of the SdH data manifests that the high-mobility bulk electron carriers dominate the magnetotransport and are responsible for the observed large linear MR in YPdBi crystals. These findings imply that the Heusler-based topological insulators have superiorities for investigating the novel quantum transport properties and developing the potential applications.

  19. Large linear magnetoresistance and shubnikov-de hass oscillations in single crystals of YPdBi heusler topological insulators

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Wenhong

    2013-07-12

    We report the observation of a large linear magnetoresistance (MR) and Shubnikov-de Hass (SdH) quantum oscillations in single crystals of YPdBi Heusler topological insulators. Owning to the successfully obtained the high-quality YPdBi single crystals, large non-saturating linear MR of as high as 350% at 5K and over 120% at 300K under a moderate magnetic field of 7T is observed. In addition to the large, field-linear MR, the samples exhibit pronounced SdH quantum oscillations at low temperature. Analysis of the SdH data manifests that the high-mobility bulk electron carriers dominate the magnetotransport and are responsible for the observed large linear MR in YPdBi crystals. These findings imply that the Heusler-based topological insulators have superiorities for investigating the novel quantum transport properties and developing the potential applications.

  20. Topology optimization for three-dimensional electromagnetic waves using an edge element-based finite-element method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Yongbo; Korvink, Jan G

    2016-05-01

    This paper develops a topology optimization procedure for three-dimensional electromagnetic waves with an edge element-based finite-element method. In contrast to the two-dimensional case, three-dimensional electromagnetic waves must include an additional divergence-free condition for the field variables. The edge element-based finite-element method is used to both discretize the wave equations and enforce the divergence-free condition. For wave propagation described in terms of the magnetic field in the widely used class of non-magnetic materials, the divergence-free condition is imposed on the magnetic field. This naturally leads to a nodal topology optimization method. When wave propagation is described using the electric field, the divergence-free condition must be imposed on the electric displacement. In this case, the material in the design domain is assumed to be piecewise homogeneous to impose the divergence-free condition on the electric field. This results in an element-wise topology optimization algorithm. The topology optimization problems are regularized using a Helmholtz filter and a threshold projection method and are analysed using a continuous adjoint method. In order to ensure the applicability of the filter in the element-wise topology optimization version, a regularization method is presented to project the nodal into an element-wise physical density variable.

  1. Geometric model of topological insulators from the Maxwell algebra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palumbo, Giandomenico

    2017-11-01

    We propose a novel geometric model of time-reversal-invariant topological insulators in three dimensions in presence of an external electromagnetic field. Their gapped boundary supports relativistic quantum Hall states and is described by a Chern-Simons theory, where the gauge connection takes values in the Maxwell algebra. This represents a non-central extension of the Poincaré algebra and takes into account both the Lorentz and magnetic-translation symmetries of the surface states. In this way, we derive a relativistic version of the Wen-Zee term and we show that the non-minimal coupling between the background geometry and the electromagnetic field in the model is in agreement with the main properties of the relativistic quantum Hall states in the flat space.

  2. Devaney chaos, Li-Yorke chaos, and multi-dimensional Li-Yorke chaos for topological dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Xiongping; Tang, Xinjia

    2017-11-01

    Let π : T × X → X, written T↷π X, be a topological semiflow/flow on a uniform space X with T a multiplicative topological semigroup/group not necessarily discrete. We then prove: If T↷π X is non-minimal topologically transitive with dense almost periodic points, then it is sensitive to initial conditions. As a result of this, Devaney chaos ⇒ Sensitivity to initial conditions, for this very general setting. Let R+↷π X be a C0-semiflow on a Polish space; then we show: If R+↷π X is topologically transitive with at least one periodic point p and there is a dense orbit with no nonempty interior, then it is multi-dimensional Li-Yorke chaotic; that is, there is a uncountable set Θ ⊆ X such that for any k ≥ 2 and any distinct points x1 , … ,xk ∈ Θ, one can find two time sequences sn → ∞ ,tn → ∞ with Moreover, let X be a non-singleton Polish space; then we prove: Any weakly-mixing C0-semiflow R+↷π X is densely multi-dimensional Li-Yorke chaotic. Any minimal weakly-mixing topological flow T↷π X with T abelian is densely multi-dimensional Li-Yorke chaotic. Any weakly-mixing topological flow T↷π X is densely Li-Yorke chaotic. We in addition construct a completely Li-Yorke chaotic minimal SL (2 , R)-acting flow on the compact metric space R ∪ { ∞ }. Our various chaotic dynamics are sensitive to the choices of the topology of the phase semigroup/group T.

  3. Spin-orbit coupling, electron transport and pairing instabilities in two-dimensional square structures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kocharian, Armen N. [Department of Physics, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032 (United States); Fernando, Gayanath W.; Fang, Kun [Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269 (United States); Palandage, Kalum [Department of Physics, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut 06106 (United States); Balatsky, Alexander V. [AlbaNova University Center Nordita, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)

    2016-05-15

    Rashba spin-orbit effects and electron correlations in the two-dimensional cylindrical lattices of square geometries are assessed using mesoscopic two-, three- and four-leg ladder structures. Here the electron transport properties are systematically calculated by including the spin-orbit coupling in tight binding and Hubbard models threaded by a magnetic flux. These results highlight important aspects of possible symmetry breaking mechanisms in square ladder geometries driven by the combined effect of a magnetic gauge field spin-orbit interaction and temperature. The observed persistent current, spin and charge polarizations in the presence of spin-orbit coupling are driven by separation of electron and hole charges and opposite spins in real-space. The modeled spin-flip processes on the pairing mechanism induced by the spin-orbit coupling in assembled nanostructures (as arrays of clusters) engineered in various two-dimensional multi-leg structures provide an ideal playground for understanding spatial charge and spin density inhomogeneities leading to electron pairing and spontaneous phase separation instabilities in unconventional superconductors. Such studies also fall under the scope of current challenging problems in superconductivity and magnetism, topological insulators and spin dependent transport associated with numerous interfaces and heterostructures.

  4. Spin-orbit coupling, electron transport and pairing instabilities in two-dimensional square structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Armen N. Kocharian

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Rashba spin-orbit effects and electron correlations in the two-dimensional cylindrical lattices of square geometries are assessed using mesoscopic two-, three- and four-leg ladder structures. Here the electron transport properties are systematically calculated by including the spin-orbit coupling in tight binding and Hubbard models threaded by a magnetic flux. These results highlight important aspects of possible symmetry breaking mechanisms in square ladder geometries driven by the combined effect of a magnetic gauge field spin-orbit interaction and temperature. The observed persistent current, spin and charge polarizations in the presence of spin-orbit coupling are driven by separation of electron and hole charges and opposite spins in real-space. The modeled spin-flip processes on the pairing mechanism induced by the spin-orbit coupling in assembled nanostructures (as arrays of clusters engineered in various two-dimensional multi-leg structures provide an ideal playground for understanding spatial charge and spin density inhomogeneities leading to electron pairing and spontaneous phase separation instabilities in unconventional superconductors. Such studies also fall under the scope of current challenging problems in superconductivity and magnetism, topological insulators and spin dependent transport associated with numerous interfaces and heterostructures.

  5. Universal Quantum Criticality in the Metal-Insulator Transition of Two-Dimensional Interacting Dirac Electrons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuichi Otsuka

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The metal-insulator transition has been a subject of intense research since Mott first proposed that the metallic behavior of interacting electrons could turn to an insulating one as electron correlations increase. Here, we consider electrons with massless Dirac-like dispersion in two spatial dimensions, described by the Hubbard models on two geometrically different lattices, and perform numerically exact calculations on unprecedentedly large systems that, combined with a careful finite-size scaling analysis, allow us to explore the quantum critical behavior in the vicinity of the interaction-driven metal-insulator transition. Thereby, we find that the transition is continuous, and we determine the quantum criticality for the corresponding universality class, which is described in the continuous limit by the Gross-Neveu model, a model extensively studied in quantum field theory. Furthermore, we discuss a fluctuation-driven scenario for the metal-insulator transition in the interacting Dirac electrons: The metal-insulator transition is triggered only by the vanishing of the quasiparticle weight, not by the Dirac Fermi velocity, which instead remains finite near the transition. This important feature cannot be captured by a simple mean-field or Gutzwiller-type approximate picture but is rather consistent with the low-energy behavior of the Gross-Neveu model.

  6. Emerging terahertz photodetectors based on two-dimensional materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jie; Qin, Hua; Zhang, Kai

    2018-01-01

    Inspired by the innovations in photonics and nanotechnology, the remarkable properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials have renewed interest for the development of terahertz (THz) photodetectors. The versatility of these materials enables ultrafast and ultrasensitive photodetection of THz radiation at room temperature. The atomically thin characteristic together with van der Waals interactions among the layers make it easy to scaling down and integrate with other 2D materials based devices, as well as silicon chips. Efforts have increased fast in the past decade in developing proof-of-concept and the further prospective THz photodetectors based on 2D materials. Here, the recent progress on the exploring of THz photodetectors based on 2D materials is reviewed. We summarized the THz photodetectors under different physical mechanism and introduced the state-of-the-art THz photodetectors based on various promising 2D materials, such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), black phosphorus (BP) and topological insulators (TIs). A brief discussion on the remaining challenges and a perspective of the 2D materials based THz photodetectors are also given.

  7. Interplay between surface and bulk states in the Topological Kondo Insulator SmB6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biswas, Sangram; Hatnean, Monica Ciomaga; Balakrishnan, Geetha; Bid, Aveek

    Kondo insulator SmB6 is predicted to have topologically protected conducting surface states(TSS). We have studied electrical transport through surface states(SS) at ultra-low temperatures in single crystals of SmB6 using local-nonlocal transport scheme and found a large nonlocal signal at temperatures lower than bulk Kondo gap scale. Using resistance fluctuation spectroscopy, we probed the local and nonlocal transport channels and showed that at low temperatures, transport in this system takes place only through SS. The measured noise in this temperature range arises due to Universal Conductance Fluctuations whose statistics was found to be consistent with theoretical predictions for that of 2D systems in the Symplectic symmetry class. We studied the temperature dependence of noise and found that, unlike the topological insulators of the dichalcogenide family, the noise in surface and bulk conduction channels in SmB6 are uncorrelated - at sufficiently low temperatures, the bulk has no discernible contribution to electrical transport in SmB6 making it an ideal platform for probing the physics of TSS. Nanomission, Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Indian Institute of Scienc and EPSRC, UK, Grant EP/L014963/1.

  8. Efficient charge-spin conversion and magnetization switching through the Rashba effect at topological-insulator/Ag interfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Shuyuan; Wang, Aizhu; Wang, Yi; Ramaswamy, Rajagopalan; Shen, Lei; Moon, Jisoo; Zhu, Dapeng; Yu, Jiawei; Oh, Seongshik; Feng, Yuanping; Yang, Hyunsoo

    2018-01-01

    We report the observation of efficient charge-to-spin conversion in the three-dimensional topological insulator (TI) B i2S e3 and Ag bilayer by the spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance technique. The spin-orbit-torque ratio in the B i2S e3/Ag /CoFeB heterostructure shows a significant enhancement as the Ag thickness increases to ˜2 nm and reaches a value of 0.5 for 5 nm Ag, which is ˜3 times higher than that of B i2S e3/CoFeB at room temperature. The observation reveals the interfacial effect of B i2S e3/Ag exceeds that of the topological surface states (TSSs) in the B i2S e3 layer and plays a dominant role in the charge-to-spin conversion in the B i2S e3/Ag /CoFeB system. Based on first-principles calculations, we attribute our observation to the large Rashba splitting bands which wrap the TSS band and have the same net spin polarization direction as the TSS of B i2S e3 . Subsequently, we demonstrate Rashba-induced magnetization switching in B i2S e3/Ag /Py with a low current density of 5.8 ×105A /c m2 .

  9. Two-dimensional thermal analysis of liquid hydrogen tank insulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Babac, Gulru; Sisman, Altug [Istanbul Technical University, Energy Institute, Ayazaga campus, 34469 Maslak, Istanbul (Turkey); Cimen, Tolga [Jaguar and Landrover, Banbury Road, Gaydon, Warwick CV35 0RR (United Kingdom)

    2009-08-15

    Liquid hydrogen (LH{sub 2}) storage has the advantage of high volumetric energy density, while boil-off losses constitute a major disadvantage. To minimize the losses, complicated insulation techniques are necessary. In general, Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) and a Vapor-Cooled Shield (VCS) are used together in LH{sub 2} tanks. In the design of an LH{sub 2} tank with VCS, the main goal is to find the optimum location for the VCS in order to minimize heat leakage. In this study, a 2D thermal model is developed by considering the temperature dependencies of the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of hydrogen gas. The developed model is used to analyze the effects of model considerations on heat leakage predictions. Furthermore, heat leakage in insulation of LH{sub 2} tanks with single and double VCS is analyzed for an automobile application, and the optimum locations of the VCS for minimization of heat leakage are determined for both cases. (author)

  10. Room-Temperature Spin-Orbit Torque Switching Induced by a Topological Insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Jiahao; Richardella, A.; Siddiqui, Saima A.; Finley, Joseph; Samarth, N.; Liu, Luqiao

    2017-08-01

    The strongly spin-momentum coupled electronic states in topological insulators (TI) have been extensively pursued to realize efficient magnetic switching. However, previous studies show a large discrepancy of the charge-spin conversion efficiency. Moreover, current-induced magnetic switching with TI can only be observed at cryogenic temperatures. We report spin-orbit torque switching in a TI-ferrimagnet heterostructure with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at room temperature. The obtained effective spin Hall angle of TI is substantially larger than the previously studied heavy metals. Our results demonstrate robust charge-spin conversion in TI and provide a direct avenue towards applicable TI-based spintronic devices.

  11. A chromatin insulator driving three-dimensional Polycomb response element (PRE) contacts and Polycomb association with the chromatin fiber

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Comet, Itys; Schuettengruber, Bernd; Sexton, Tom

    2011-01-01

    to insulate genes from regulatory elements or to take part in long-distance interactions. Using a high-resolution chromatin conformation capture (H3C) method, we show that the Drosophila gypsy insulator behaves as a conformational chromatin border that is able to prohibit contacts between a Polycomb response...... element (PRE) and a distal promoter. On the other hand, two spaced gypsy elements form a chromatin loop that is able to bring an upstream PRE in contact with a downstream gene to mediate its repression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) profiles of the Polycomb protein and its associated H3K27me3...... histone mark reflect this insulator-dependent chromatin conformation, suggesting that Polycomb action at a distance can be organized by local chromatin topology....

  12. Similarities between normal- and super-currents in topological insulator magnetic tunnel junctions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soodchomshom, Bumned; Chantngarm, Peerasak

    2010-01-01

    This work compares the normal-current in a NM/Fi/NM junction with the super-current in a SC/Fi/SC junction, where both are topological insulator systems. NM and Fi are normal region and ferromagnetic region of thickness d with exchange energy m playing a role of the mass of the Dirac electrons and with the gate voltage V G , respectively. SC is superconducting region induced by a s-wave superconductor. We show that, interestingly, the critical super-current passing through a SC/Fi/SC junction behaves quite similar to the normal-current passing through a NM/Fi/NM junction. The normal-current and super-current exhibit N-peak oscillation, found when currents are plotted as a function of the magnetic barrier strength χ ∼ md/hv F . With the barrier strength Z ∼ V G d/hv F , the number of peaks N is determined through the relation Z ∼ Nπ + σπ (with 0 < σ≤1 for χ < Z). The normal- and the super-currents also exhibit oscillating with the same height for all of peaks, corresponding to the Dirac fermion tunneling behavior. These anomalous oscillating currents due to the interplay between gate voltage and magnetic field in the barrier were not found in graphene-based NM/Fi/NM and SC/Fi/SC junctions. This is due to the different magnetic effect between the Dirac fermions in topological insulator and graphene.

  13. Strain induced novel quantum magnetotransport properties of topological insulators

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ma, Ning, E-mail: maning@stu.xjtu.edu.cn [Department of Physics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 (China); Department of Applied Physics, MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Zhang, Shengli, E-mail: zhangsl@mail.xjtu.edu.cn [Department of Applied Physics, MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049 (China); Liu, Daqing, E-mail: liudq@cczu.edu.cn [School of Mathematics and Physics, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164 (China)

    2016-12-15

    Recent theoretical and experimental researches have revealed that the strained bulk HgTe can be regarded as a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI). Motivated by this, we explore the strain effects on the transport properties of the HgTe surface states, which are modulated by a weak 1D in-plane electrostatic periodic potential in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. We analytically derive the zero frequency (dc) diffusion conductivity for the case of quasielastic scattering in the Kubo formalism, and find that, in strong magnetic field regime, the Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations are superimposed on top of the Weiss oscillations due to the electric modulation for null and finite strain. Furthermore, the strain is shown to remove the degeneracy in inversion symmetric Dirac cones on the top and bottom surfaces. This accordingly gives rise to the splitting and mixture of Landau levels, and the asymmetric spectrum of the dc conductivity. These phenomena, not known in a conventional 2D electron gas and even in a strainless TI and graphene, are a consequence of the anomalous spectrum of surface states in a fully stained TI. These results should be valuable for electronic and spintronic applications of TIs, and thus we fully expect to see them in the further experiment. - Highlights: • The strain removes the degeneracy in inversion symmetric Dirac cones. • The strain gives rise to the splitting and mixture of the Landau levels. • The strain leads to the asymmetric spectrum of the dc conductivity. • Shubnikov de Haas oscillations are shown to be superimposed on Weiss oscillations. • Interplay between strain and electric field causes different occupancy of TI states.

  14. Ambipolar field effect in the ternary topological insulator (BixSb1–x)2Te3 by composition tuning

    KAUST Repository

    Kong, Desheng; Chen, Yulin; Cha, Judy J.; Zhang, Qianfan; Analytis, James G.; Lai, Keji; Liu, Zhongkai; Hong, Seung Sae; Koski, Kristie J.; Mo, Sung-Kwan; Hussain, Zahid; Fisher, Ian R.; Shen, Zhi-Xun; Cui, Yi

    2011-01-01

    Topological insulators exhibit a bulk energy gap and spin-polarized surface states that lead to unique electronic properties 1-9, with potential applications in spintronics and quantum information processing. However, transport measurements have

  15. rf Quantum Capacitance of the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3 in the Bulk Depleted Regime for Field-Effect Transistors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inhofer, A.; Duffy, J.; Boukhicha, M.; Bocquillon, E.; Palomo, J.; Watanabe, K.; Taniguchi, T.; Estève, I.; Berroir, J. M.; Fève, G.; Plaçais, B.; Assaf, B. A.

    2018-02-01

    A metal-dielectric topological-insulator capacitor device based on hexagonal-boron-nitrate- (h -BN) encapsulated CVD-grown Bi2Se3 is realized and investigated in the radio-frequency regime. The rf quantum capacitance and device resistance are extracted for frequencies as high as 10 GHz and studied as a function of the applied gate voltage. The superior quality h -BN gate dielectric combined with the optimized transport characteristics of CVD-grown Bi2Se3 (n ˜1018 cm-3 in 8 nm) on h -BN allow us to attain a bulk depleted regime by dielectric gating. A quantum-capacitance minimum and a linear variation of the capacitance with the chemical potential are observed revealing a Dirac regime. The topological surface state in proximity to the gate is seen to reach charge neutrality, but the bottom surface state remains charged and capacitively coupled to the top via the insulating bulk. Our work paves the way toward implementation of topological materials in rf devices.

  16. Charge and spin transport in edge channels of a ν=0 quantum Hall system on the surface of topological insulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morimoto, Takahiro; Furusaki, Akira; Nagaosa, Naoto

    2015-04-10

    Three-dimensional topological insulators of finite thickness can show the quantum Hall effect (QHE) at the filling factor ν=0 under an external magnetic field if there is a finite potential difference between the top and bottom surfaces. We calculate energy spectra of surface Weyl fermions in the ν=0 QHE and find that gapped edge states with helical spin structure are formed from Weyl fermions on the side surfaces under certain conditions. These edge channels account for the nonlocal charge transport in the ν=0 QHE which is observed in a recent experiment on (Bi_{1-x}Sb_{x})_{2}Te_{3} films. The edge channels also support spin transport due to the spin-momentum locking. We propose an experimental setup to observe various spintronics functions such as spin transport and spin conversion.

  17. Tunable Electronic and Topological Properties of Germanene by Functional Group Modification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ceng-Ceng Ren

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Electronic and topological properties of two-dimensional germanene modified by functional group X (X = H, F, OH, CH3 at full coverage are studied with first-principles calculation. Without considering the effect of spin-orbit coupling (SOC, all functionalized configurations become semiconductors, removing the Dirac cone at K point in pristine germanene. We also find that their band gaps can be especially well tuned by an external strain. When the SOC is switched on, GeX (X = H, CH3 is a normal insulator and strain leads to a phase transition to a topological insulator (TI phase. However, GeX (X = F, OH becomes a TI with a large gap of 0.19 eV for X = F and 0.24 eV for X = OH, even without external strains. More interestingly, when all these functionalized monolayers form a bilayer structure, semiconductor-metal states are observed. All these results suggest a possible route of modulating the electronic properties of germanene and promote applications in nanoelectronics.

  18. Study of Ho-doped Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulator thin films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harrison, S. E. [Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU (United Kingdom); Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Collins-McIntyre, L. J.; Zhang, S. L.; Chen, Y. L.; Hesjedal, T., E-mail: Thorsten.Hesjedal@physics.ox.ac.uk [Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU (United Kingdom); Baker, A. A. [Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU (United Kingdom); Magnetic Spectroscopy Group, Diamond Light Source, Didcot OX11 0DE (United Kingdom); Figueroa, A. I.; Laan, G. van der [Magnetic Spectroscopy Group, Diamond Light Source, Didcot OX11 0DE (United Kingdom); Kellock, A. J.; Pushp, A.; Parkin, S. S. P. [IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95120 (United States); Harris, J. S. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)

    2015-11-02

    Breaking time-reversal symmetry through magnetic doping of topological insulators has been identified as a key strategy for unlocking exotic physical states. Here, we report the growth of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films doped with the highest magnetic moment element Ho. Diffraction studies demonstrate high quality films for up to 21% Ho incorporation. Superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry reveals paramagnetism down to 2 K with an effective magnetic moment of ∼5 μ{sub B}/Ho. Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy shows that the topological surface state remains intact with Ho doping, consistent with the material's paramagnetic state. The large saturation moment achieved makes these films useful for incorporation into heterostructures, whereby magnetic order can be introduced via interfacial coupling.

  19. Spin injection and inverse Edelstein effect in the surface states of topological Kondo insulator SmB6

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Qi; Mi, Jian; Zhao, Dan; Su, Tang; Yuan, Wei; Xing, Wenyu; Chen, Yangyang; Wang, Tianyu; Wu, Tao; Chen, Xian Hui; Xie, X. C.; Zhang, Chi; Shi, Jing; Han, Wei

    2016-01-01

    There has been considerable interest in exploiting the spin degrees of freedom of electrons for potential information storage and computing technologies. Topological insulators (TIs), a class of quantum materials, have special gapless edge/surface states, where the spin polarization of the Dirac fermions is locked to the momentum direction. This spin–momentum locking property gives rise to very interesting spin-dependent physical phenomena such as the Edelstein and inverse Edelstein effects. However, the spin injection in pure surface states of TI is very challenging because of the coexistence of the highly conducting bulk states. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the spin injection and observe the inverse Edelstein effect in the surface states of a topological Kondo insulator, SmB6. At low temperatures when only surface carriers are present, a clear spin signal is observed. Furthermore, the magnetic field angle dependence of the spin signal is consistent with spin–momentum locking property of surface states of SmB6. PMID:27834378

  20. Thickness oscillations of the transport properties in n-type Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulator thin films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rogacheva, E.I., E-mail: rogacheva@kpi.kharkov.ua [National Technical University “Kharkov Polytechnic Institute”, 21 Frunze Street, Kharkov 61002 (Ukraine); Budnik, A.V.; Sipatov, A.Yu.; Nashchekina, O.N. [National Technical University “Kharkov Polytechnic Institute”, 21 Frunze Street, Kharkov 61002 (Ukraine); Fedorov, A.G. [Institute for Single Crystals of NAS of Ukraine, 60 Lenin Prospect, Kharkov 61001 (Ukraine); Dresselhaus, M.S.; Tang, S. [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

    2015-11-02

    The dependences of the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and Hall coefficient on the thickness (d = 20–155 nm) of the n-type thin films grown on the glass substrates by the thermal evaporation in vacuum of the n-type Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} topological insulator crystals have been measured. It has been established that these dependences have an oscillatory character with a substantial amplitude. The obtained results are interpreted in terms of quantum size effects, taking into account the peculiar properties of the surface layers of the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films connected with the topological insulator nature of the bismuth telluride. - Highlights: • The thickness dependences of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films kinetic coefficients were obtained. • The dependences have oscillatory character with a substantial undamped amplitude. • The oscillation period increases with decreasing film thickness. • The oscillations are attributed to electron confinement in the film growth direction. • It is suggested that topological surface layer affects quantum processes in films.

  1. Scanning Tunnelling Spectroscopic Studies of Dirac Fermions in Graphene and Topological Insulators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    wang K.-L.

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available We report novel properties derived from scanning tunnelling spectroscopic (STS studies of Dirac fermions in graphene and the surface state (SS of a strong topological insulator (STI, Bi2Se3. For mono-layer graphene grown on Cu by chemical vapour deposition (CVD, strain-induced scalar and gauge potentials are manifested by the charging effects and the tunnelling conductance peaks at quantized energies, respectively. Additionally, spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking is evidenced by the alternating anti-localization and localization spectra associated with the zero-mode of two sublattices while global time-reversal symmetry is preserved under the presence of pseudo-magnetic fields. For Bi2Se3 epitaxial films grown on Si(111 by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE, spatially localized unitary impurity resonances with sensitive dependence on the energy difference between the Fermi level and the Dirac point are observed for samples thicker than 6 quintuple layers (QL. These findings are characteristic of the SS of a STI and are direct manifestation of strong topological protection against impurities. For samples thinner than 6-QL, STS studies reveal the openup of an energy gap in the SS due to overlaps of wave functions between the surface and interface layers. Additionally, spin-preserving quasiparticle interference wave-vectors are observed, which are consistent with the Rashba-like spin-orbit splitting.

  2. Topology of streamlines and vorticity contours for two - dimensional flows

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Morten

    on the vortex filament by the localised induction approximation the stream function is slightly modified and an extra parameter is introduced. In this setting two new flow topologies arise, but not more than two critical points occur for any combination of the parameters. The analysis of the closed form show...... by a point vortex above a wall in inviscid fluid. There is no reason to a priori expect equivalent results of the three vortex definitions. However, the study is mainly motivated by the findings of Kudela & Malecha (Fluid Dyn. Res. 41, 2009) who find good agreement between the vorticity and streamlines...

  3. Gauge-field topology in two dimensions: θ-vacuum, topological phases and composite fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ilieva, N.; Pervushin, V.N.

    1990-06-01

    In the framework of the minimal quantization method, the residual 'longitudinal' vacuum dynamics of the Abelian gauge field, that is described by a new pair of canonical variables, is revealed. This dynamics is shown to give origin to the θ-vacuum, thus providing a field analogy of the Josephson effect. The destructive interference of the topological phases - that the fermion fields are shown to acquire - is considered as a reason for the charge screening in the two-dimensional massless QED. (author). 11 refs

  4. Traditional Semiconductors in the Two-Dimensional Limit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucking, Michael C; Xie, Weiyu; Choe, Duk-Hyun; West, Damien; Lu, Toh-Ming; Zhang, S B

    2018-02-23

    Interest in two-dimensional materials has exploded in recent years. Not only are they studied due to their novel electronic properties, such as the emergent Dirac fermion in graphene, but also as a new paradigm in which stacking layers of distinct two-dimensional materials may enable different functionality or devices. Here, through first-principles theory, we reveal a large new class of two-dimensional materials which are derived from traditional III-V, II-VI, and I-VII semiconductors. It is found that in the ultrathin limit the great majority of traditional binary semiconductors studied (a series of 28 semiconductors) are not only kinetically stable in a two-dimensional double layer honeycomb structure, but more energetically stable than the truncated wurtzite or zinc-blende structures associated with three dimensional bulk. These findings both greatly increase the landscape of two-dimensional materials and also demonstrate that in the double layer honeycomb form, even ordinary semiconductors, such as GaAs, can exhibit exotic topological properties.

  5. Modeling all-electrical detection of the inverse Edelstein effect by spin-polarized tunneling in a topological-insulator/ferromagnetic-metal heterostructure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dey, Rik; Register, Leonard F.; Banerjee, Sanjay K.

    2018-04-01

    The spin-momentum locking of the surface states in a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI) allows a charge current on the surface of the TI induced by an applied spin current onto the surface, which is known as the inverse Edelstein effect (IEE), that could be achieved either by injecting pure spin current by spin-pumping from a ferromagnetic metal (FM) layer or by injecting spin-polarized charge current by direct tunneling of electrons from the FM to the TI. Here, we present a theory of the observed IEE effect in a TI-FM heterostructure for the spin-polarized tunneling experiments. If an electrical current is passed from the FM to the surface of the TI, because of density-of-states polarization of the FM, an effective imbalance of spin-polarized electrons occurs on the surface of the TI. Due to the spin-momentum helical locking of the surface states in the TI, a difference of transverse charge accumulation appears on the TI surface in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the magnetization of the FM, which is measured as a voltage difference. Here, we derive the two-dimensional transport equations of electrons on the surface of a diffusive TI, coupled to a FM, starting from the quantum kinetic equation, and analytically solve the equations for a rectangular geometry to calculate the voltage difference.

  6. Spin-orbit torque in a three-dimensional topological insulator–ferromagnet heterostructure: Crossover between bulk and surface transport

    KAUST Repository

    Ghosh, Sumit; Manchon, Aurelien

    2018-01-01

    Current-driven spin-orbit torques are investigated in a heterostructure composed of a ferromagnet deposited on top of a three-dimensional topological insulator using the linear response formalism. We develop a tight-binding model of the heterostructure adopting a minimal interfacial hybridization scheme that promotes induced magnetic exchange on the topological surface states, as well as induced Rashba-like spin-orbit coupling in the ferromagnet. Therefore our model accounts for the spin Hall effect from bulk states together with inverse spin galvanic and magnetoelectric effects at the interface on equal footing. By varying the transport energy across the band structure, we uncover a crossover from surface-dominated to bulk-dominated transport regimes. We show that the spin density profile and the nature of the spin-orbit torques differ substantially in both regimes. Our results, which compare favorably with experimental observations, demonstrate that the large dampinglike torque reported recently is more likely attributed to the Berry curvature of interfacial states, while spin Hall torque remains small even in the bulk-dominated regime.

  7. Spin-orbit torque in a three-dimensional topological insulator–ferromagnet heterostructure: Crossover between bulk and surface transport

    KAUST Repository

    Ghosh, Sumit

    2018-04-02

    Current-driven spin-orbit torques are investigated in a heterostructure composed of a ferromagnet deposited on top of a three-dimensional topological insulator using the linear response formalism. We develop a tight-binding model of the heterostructure adopting a minimal interfacial hybridization scheme that promotes induced magnetic exchange on the topological surface states, as well as induced Rashba-like spin-orbit coupling in the ferromagnet. Therefore our model accounts for the spin Hall effect from bulk states together with inverse spin galvanic and magnetoelectric effects at the interface on equal footing. By varying the transport energy across the band structure, we uncover a crossover from surface-dominated to bulk-dominated transport regimes. We show that the spin density profile and the nature of the spin-orbit torques differ substantially in both regimes. Our results, which compare favorably with experimental observations, demonstrate that the large dampinglike torque reported recently is more likely attributed to the Berry curvature of interfacial states, while spin Hall torque remains small even in the bulk-dominated regime.

  8. Stratification of TAD boundaries reveals preferential insulation of super-enhancers by strong boundaries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Yixiao; Lazaris, Charalampos; Sakellaropoulos, Theodore; Lozano, Aurelie; Kambadur, Prabhanjan; Ntziachristos, Panagiotis; Aifantis, Iannis; Tsirigos, Aristotelis

    2018-02-07

    The metazoan genome is compartmentalized in areas of highly interacting chromatin known as topologically associating domains (TADs). TADs are demarcated by boundaries mostly conserved across cell types and even across species. However, a genome-wide characterization of TAD boundary strength in mammals is still lacking. In this study, we first use fused two-dimensional lasso as a machine learning method to improve Hi-C contact matrix reproducibility, and, subsequently, we categorize TAD boundaries based on their insulation score. We demonstrate that higher TAD boundary insulation scores are associated with elevated CTCF levels and that they may differ across cell types. Intriguingly, we observe that super-enhancers are preferentially insulated by strong boundaries. Furthermore, we demonstrate that strong TAD boundaries and super-enhancer elements are frequently co-duplicated in cancer patients. Taken together, our findings suggest that super-enhancers insulated by strong TAD boundaries may be exploited, as a functional unit, by cancer cells to promote oncogenesis.

  9. Bismuth telluride topological insulator nanosheet saturable absorbers for q-switched mode-locked Tm:ZBLAN waveguide lasers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jiang, Xiantao; Gross, Simon; Withford, Michael J.; Fuerbach, Alexander [Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS) and MQ Photonics Research Centre, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie Univ., NSW (Australia); Zhang, Han; Guo, Zhinan [SZU-NUS Collaborative Innovation Centre for Optoelectronic Science and Technology, Key Lab. of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen Univ. (China)

    2016-08-15

    Nanosheets of bismuth telluride (Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}), a topological insulator material that exhibits broadband saturable absorption due to its non-trivial Dirac-cone like energy structure, are utilized to generate short pulses from Tm:ZBLAN waveguide lasers. By depositing multiple layers of a carefully prepared Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} solution onto a glass substrate, the modulation depth and the saturation intensity of the fabricated devices can be controlled and optimized. This approach enables the realization of saturable absorbers that feature a modulation depth of 13% and a saturation intensity of 997 kW/cm{sup 2}. For the first time to our knowledge, Q-switched mode-locked operation of a linearly polarized mid-IR ZBLAN waveguide chip laser was realized in an extended cavity configuration using the topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3}. The maximum average output power of the laser is 16.3 mW and the Q-switched and mode-locked repetition rates are 44 kHz and 436 MHz, respectively. (copyright 2016 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  10. Sums of two-dimensional spectral triples

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Erik; Ivan, Cristina

    2007-01-01

    construct a sum of two dimensional modules which reflects some aspects of the topological dimensions of the compact metric space, but this will only give the metric back approximately. At the end we make an explicit computation of the last module for the unit interval in. The metric is recovered exactly...

  11. Highly efficient conductance control in a topological insulator based magnetoelectric transistor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Duan, Xiaopeng; Li, Xi-Lai; Li, Xiaodong; Semenov, Yuriy G. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States); Kim, Ki Wook, E-mail: kwk@ncsu.edu [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States); Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States)

    2015-12-14

    The spin-momentum interlocked properties of the topological insulator (TI) surface states are exploited in a transistor-like structure for efficient conductance control in the TI-magnet system. Combined with the electrically induced magnetization rotation as part of the gate function, the proposed structure takes advantage of the magnetically modulated TI electronic band dispersion in addition to the conventional electrostatic barrier. The transport analysis coupled with the magnetic simulation predicts super-steep current-voltage characteristics near the threshold along with the GHz operating frequencies. Potential implementation to a complementary logic is also examined. The predicted characteristics are most suitable for applications requiring low power or those with small signals.

  12. General response formula and application to topological insulator in quantum open system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, H Z; Qin, M; Shao, X Q; Yi, X X

    2015-11-01

    It is well-known that the quantum linear response theory is based on the first-order perturbation theory for a system in thermal equilibrium. Hence, this theory breaks down when the system is in a steady state far from thermal equilibrium and the response up to higher order in perturbation is not negligible. In this paper, we develop a nonlinear response theory for such quantum open system. We first formulate this theory in terms of general susceptibility, after which we apply it to the derivation of Hall conductance for open system at finite temperature. As an example, the Hall conductance of the two-band model is derived. Then we calculate the Hall conductance for a two-dimensional ferromagnetic electron gas and a two-dimensional lattice model. The calculations show that the transition points of topological phase are robust against the environment. Our results provide a promising platform for the coherent manipulation of the nonlinear response in quantum open system, which has potential applications for quantum information processing and statistical physics.

  13. Two-dimensional manifolds with metrics of revolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sabitov, I Kh

    2000-01-01

    This is a study of the topological and metric structure of two-dimensional manifolds with a metric that is locally a metric of revolution. In the case of compact manifolds this problem can be thoroughly investigated, and in particular it is explained why there are no closed analytic surfaces of revolution in R 3 other than a sphere and a torus (moreover, in the smoothness class C ∞ such surfaces, understood in a certain generalized sense, exist in any topological class)

  14. Optical and Casimir effects in topological materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Justin H.

    Two major electromagnetic phenomena, magneto-optical effects and the Casimir effect, have seen much theoretical and experimental use for many years. On the other hand, recently there has been an explosion of theoretical and experimental work on so-called topological materials, and a natural question to ask is how such electromagnetic phenomena change with these novel materials. Specifically, we will consider are topological insulators and Weyl semimetals. When Dirac electrons on the surface of a topological insulator are gapped or Weyl fermions in the bulk of a Weyl semimetal appear due to time-reversal symmetry breaking, there is a resulting quantum anomalous Hall effect (2D in one case and bulk 3D in the other, respectively). For topological insulators, we investigate the role of localized in-gap states which can leave their own fingerprints on the magneto-optics and can therefore be probed. We have shown that these states resonantly contribute to the Hall conductivity and are magneto-optically active. For Weyl semimetals we investigate the Casimir force and show that with thickness, chemical potential, and magnetic field, a repulsive and tunable Casimir force can be obtained. Additionally, various values of the parameters can give various combinations of traps and antitraps. We additionally probe the topological transition called a Lifshitz transition in the band structure of a material and show that in a Casimir experiment, one can observe a non-analytic "kink'' in the Casimir force across such a transition. The material we propose is a spin-orbit coupled semiconductor with large g-factor that can be magnetically tuned through such a transition. Additionally, we propose an experiment with a two-dimensional metal where weak localization is tuned with an applied field in order to definitively test the effect of diffusive electrons on the Casimir force---an issue that is surprisingly unresolved to this day. Lastly, we show how the time-continuous coherent state

  15. Topological insulators in cold-atom gases with non-Abelian gauge fields: the role of interactions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Orth, Peter Philipp [Institut fuer Theorie der Kondensierten Materie, Karlsruher Institut fuer Technologie, 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany); Cocks, Daniel; Buchhold, Michael; Hofstetter, Walter [Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Goethe Universitaet, 60438 Frankfurt am Main (Germany); Rachel, Stephan [Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States); Le Hur, Karyn [Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States); Center for Theoretical Physics, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex (France)

    2012-07-01

    With the recent technological advance of creating (non)-Abelian gauge fields for ultracold atoms in optical lattices, it becomes possible to study the interplay of topological phases and interactions in these systems. Specifically, we consider a spinful and time-reversal invariant version of the Hofstadter problem. In addition, we allow for a hopping term which does not preserve S{sub z} spin symmetry and a staggered sublattice potential. Without interactions, the parameters can be tuned such that the system is a topological insulator. Using a combination of analytical techniques and the powerful real-space dynamical mean-field (R-DMFT) method, we discuss the effect of interactions and determine the interacting phase diagram.

  16. Transport properties of Dirac fermions in two dimensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    DaSilva, Ashley M.

    The Dirac equation in particle physics is used to describe spin 1/2 fermions (such as electrons) moving at relativistic speeds. In condensed matter physics, this is usually not relevant, since particles in matter move slowly compared to the speed of light. However, recent progress has revealed two-dimensional realizations of Dirac fermions in condensed matter systems with zero mass and a redefined "speed of light." One of these systems, graphene, has been studied theoretically for decades as a building block of graphite. The other, the topological insulator, is quite new; this state of matter was predicted less than 10 years ago. Graphene was first isolated in 2004, and since then there has been an explosion of graphene research in the physics community. Much of the recent excitement has to do with the potential applications of graphene in devices. In this dissertation, I will discuss two problems related to graphene devices, and in particular how to use the strong interaction of graphene with its surroundings as an asset. I will show that a Boltzmann transport theory with all scattering mechanisms describes the current vs voltage of a graphene sheet extremely well using no adjustable parameters. One crucial element of this model is the transfer of energy from electrons directly to the substrate via scattering with optical phonons at the interface. The interaction is due to an electric field that is set up by these optical phonons, which is so strongly interacting in part due to the two dimensionality of the graphene. I will also discuss the adsorption of He atoms on a graphene sheet. This causes a change in the graphene conductivity which is large enough to be measurable. Work in this direction could provide a route to graphene sensors. The topological insulator is a recently predicted state of matter which is nominally an insulator but has metallic surface states which are topologically protected. This topological protection arises from the symmetry of the system

  17. Emergence, evolution, and control of multistability in a hybrid topological quantum/classical system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Guanglei; Xu, Hongya; Lai, Ying-Cheng

    2018-03-01

    We present a novel class of nonlinear dynamical systems—a hybrid of relativistic quantum and classical systems and demonstrate that multistability is ubiquitous. A representative setting is coupled systems of a topological insulator and an insulating ferromagnet, where the former possesses an insulating bulk with topologically protected, dissipationless, and conducting surface electronic states governed by the relativistic quantum Dirac Hamiltonian and the latter is described by the nonlinear classical evolution of its magnetization vector. The interactions between the two are essentially the spin transfer torque from the topological insulator to the ferromagnet and the local proximity induced exchange coupling in the opposite direction. The hybrid system exhibits a rich variety of nonlinear dynamical phenomena besides multistability such as bifurcations, chaos, and phase synchronization. The degree of multistability can be controlled by an external voltage. In the case of two coexisting states, the system is effectively binary, opening a door to exploitation for developing spintronic memory devices. Because of the dissipationless and spin-momentum locking nature of the surface currents of the topological insulator, little power is needed for generating a significant current, making the system appealing for potential applications in next generation of low power memory devices.

  18. Emergence, evolution, and control of multistability in a hybrid topological quantum/classical system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Guanglei; Xu, Hongya; Lai, Ying-Cheng

    2018-03-01

    We present a novel class of nonlinear dynamical systems-a hybrid of relativistic quantum and classical systems and demonstrate that multistability is ubiquitous. A representative setting is coupled systems of a topological insulator and an insulating ferromagnet, where the former possesses an insulating bulk with topologically protected, dissipationless, and conducting surface electronic states governed by the relativistic quantum Dirac Hamiltonian and the latter is described by the nonlinear classical evolution of its magnetization vector. The interactions between the two are essentially the spin transfer torque from the topological insulator to the ferromagnet and the local proximity induced exchange coupling in the opposite direction. The hybrid system exhibits a rich variety of nonlinear dynamical phenomena besides multistability such as bifurcations, chaos, and phase synchronization. The degree of multistability can be controlled by an external voltage. In the case of two coexisting states, the system is effectively binary, opening a door to exploitation for developing spintronic memory devices. Because of the dissipationless and spin-momentum locking nature of the surface currents of the topological insulator, little power is needed for generating a significant current, making the system appealing for potential applications in next generation of low power memory devices.

  19. Topological Insulator Bi2Se3/Si-Nanowire-Based p-n Junction Diode for High-Performance Near-Infrared Photodetector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, Biswajit; Das, Nirmalya S; Sarkar, Samrat; Chatterjee, Biplab K; Chattopadhyay, Kalyan K

    2017-07-12

    Chemically derived topological insulator Bi 2 Se 3 nanoflake/Si nanowire (SiNWs) heterojunctions were fabricated employing all eco-friendly cost-effective chemical route for the first time. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed proper phase formation of Bi 2 Se 3 nanoflakes. The morphological features of the individual components and time-evolved hybrid structures were studied using field emission scanning electron microscope. High resolution transmission electron microscopic studies were performed to investigate the actual nature of junction whereas elemental distributions at junction, along with overall stoichiometry of the samples were analyzed using energy dispersive X-ray studies. Temperature dependent current-voltage characteristics and variation of barrier height and ideality factor was studied between 50 and 300 K. An increase in barrier height and decrease in the ideality factor were observed with increasing temperature for the sample. The rectification ratio (I + /I - ) for SiNWs substrate over pristine Si substrate under dark and near-infrared (NIR) irradiation of 890 nm was found to be 3.63 and 10.44, respectively. Furthermore, opto-electrical characterizations were performed for different light power intensities and highest photo responsivity and detectivity were determined to be 934.1 A/W and 2.30 × 10 13 Jones, respectively. Those values are appreciably higher than previous reports for topological insulator based devices. Thus, this work establishes a hybrid system based on topological insulator Bi 2 Se 3 nanoflake and Si nanowire as the newest efficient candidate for advanced optoelectronic materials.

  20. Spin Orbit Coupling Gap and Indirect Gap in Strain-Tuned Topological Insulator-Antimonene

    OpenAIRE

    Cheung, Chi-Ho; Fuh, Huei-Ru; Hsu, Ming-Chien; Lin, Yeu-Chung; Chang, Ching-Ray

    2016-01-01

    Recently, searching large-bulk band gap topological insulator (TI) is under intensive study. Through k?P theory and first-principles calculations analysis on antimonene, we find that ?-phase antimonene can be tuned to a 2D TI under an in-plane anisotropic strain and the magnitude of direct bulk band gap (SOC gap) depends on the strength of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) which is strain-dependent. As the band inversion of this TI accompanies with an indirect band gap, the TI bulk band gap is the in...

  1. Infrared magneto-spectroscopy of two-dimensional and three-dimensional massless fermions: A comparison

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Orlita, M., E-mail: milan.orlita@lncmi.cnrs.fr [Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, CNRS-UJF-UPS-INSA, 38042 Grenoble (France); Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Ke Karlovu 5, 121 16 Prague 2 (Czech Republic); Faugeras, C.; Barra, A.-L.; Martinez, G.; Potemski, M. [Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, CNRS-UJF-UPS-INSA, 38042 Grenoble (France); Basko, D. M. [LPMMC UMR 5493, Université Grenoble 1/CNRS, B.P. 166, 38042 Grenoble (France); Zholudev, M. S. [Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR CNRS 5221, GIS-TERALAB, Université Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier (France); Institute for Physics of Microstructures, RAS, Nizhny Novgorod GSP-105 603950 (Russian Federation); Teppe, F.; Knap, W. [Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR CNRS 5221, GIS-TERALAB, Université Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier (France); Gavrilenko, V. I. [Institute for Physics of Microstructures, RAS, Nizhny Novgorod GSP-105 603950 (Russian Federation); Mikhailov, N. N.; Dvoretskii, S. A. [A.V. Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation); Neugebauer, P. [Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 55, 70569 Stuttgart (Germany); Berger, C. [School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 (United States); Institut Néel/CNRS-UJF BP 166, F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France); Heer, W. A. de [School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 (United States)

    2015-03-21

    Here, we report on a magneto-optical study of two distinct systems hosting massless fermions—two-dimensional graphene and three-dimensional HgCdTe tuned to the zero band gap condition at the point of the semiconductor-to-semimetal topological transition. Both materials exhibit, in the quantum regime, a fairly rich magneto-optical response, which is composed from a series of intra- and interband inter-Landau level resonances with for massless fermions typical √(B) dependence. The impact of the system's dimensionality and of the strength of the spin-orbit interaction on the optical response is also discussed.

  2. Casimir-Lifshitz force for nonreciprocal media and applications to photonic topological insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuchs, Sebastian; Lindel, Frieder; Krems, Roman V.; Hanson, George W.; Antezza, Mauro; Buhmann, Stefan Yoshi

    2017-12-01

    Based on the theory of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics, we generalize the expression of the Casimir force for nonreciprocal media. The essential ingredient of this result is the Green's tensor between two nonreciprocal semi-infinite slabs, including a reflexion matrix with four coefficients that mixes optical polarizations. This Green's tensor does not obey Lorentz's reciprocity and thus violates time-reversal symmetry. The general result for the Casimir force is analyzed in the retarded and nonretarded limits, concentrating on the influences arising from reflections with or without change of polarization. In a second step, we apply our general result to a photonic topological insulator whose nonreciprocity stems from an anisotropic permittivity tensor, namely InSb. We show that there is a regime for the distance between the slabs where the magnitude of the Casimir force is tunable by an external magnetic field. Furthermore, the strength of this tuning depends on the orientation of the magnetic field with respect to the slab surfaces.

  3. Visualizing vector field topology in fluid flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helman, James L.; Hesselink, Lambertus

    1991-01-01

    Methods of automating the analysis and display of vector field topology in general and flow topology in particular are discussed. Two-dimensional vector field topology is reviewed as the basis for the examination of topology in three-dimensional separated flows. The use of tangent surfaces and clipping in visualizing vector field topology in fluid flows is addressed.

  4. The topology of large-scale structure. V - Two-dimensional topology of sky maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gott, J. R., III; Mao, Shude; Park, Changbom; Lahav, Ofer

    1992-01-01

    A 2D algorithm is applied to observed sky maps and numerical simulations. It is found that when topology is studied on smoothing scales larger than the correlation length, the topology is approximately in agreement with the random phase formula for the 2D genus-threshold density relation, G2(nu) varies as nu(e) exp-nu-squared/2. Some samples show small 'meatball shifts' similar to those seen in corresponding 3D observational samples and similar to those produced by biasing in cold dark matter simulations. The observational results are thus consistent with the standard model in which the structure in the universe today has grown from small fluctuations caused by random quantum noise in the early universe.

  5. Two-stage Framework for a Topology-Based Projection and Visualization of Classified Document Collections

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oesterling, Patrick; Scheuermann, Gerik; Teresniak, Sven; Heyer, Gerhard; Koch, Steffen; Ertl, Thomas; Weber, Gunther H.

    2010-07-19

    During the last decades, electronic textual information has become the world's largest and most important information source available. People have added a variety of daily newspapers, books, scientific and governmental publications, blogs and private messages to this wellspring of endless information and knowledge. Since neither the existing nor the new information can be read in its entirety, computers are used to extract and visualize meaningful or interesting topics and documents from this huge information clutter. In this paper, we extend, improve and combine existing individual approaches into an overall framework that supports topological analysis of high dimensional document point clouds given by the well-known tf-idf document-term weighting method. We show that traditional distance-based approaches fail in very high dimensional spaces, and we describe an improved two-stage method for topology-based projections from the original high dimensional information space to both two dimensional (2-D) and three dimensional (3-D) visualizations. To show the accuracy and usability of this framework, we compare it to methods introduced recently and apply it to complex document and patent collections.

  6. Mass relations for two-dimensional classical configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tataru-Mihai, P.

    1980-01-01

    Using the two-dimensional sigma-nonlinear models as a framework mass relations for classical configurations of instanton/soliton type are derived. Our results suggest an interesting differential-geometric interpretation of the mass of a classical configuration in terms of the topological characteristics of an associated manifold. (orig.)

  7. Nobel Lecture: Topological quantum matter*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haldane, F. Duncan M.

    2017-10-01

    Nobel Lecture, presented December 8, 2016, Aula Magna, Stockholm University. I will describe the history and background of three discoveries cited in this Nobel Prize: The "TKNN" topological formula for the integer quantum Hall effect found by David Thouless and collaborators, the Chern insulator or quantum anomalous Hall effect, and its role in the later discovery of time-reversal-invariant topological insulators, and the unexpected topological spin-liquid state of the spin-1 quantum antiferromagnetic chain, which provided an initial example of topological quantum matter. I will summarize how these early beginnings have led to the exciting, and currently extremely active, field of "topological matter."

  8. Deep learning the quantum phase transitions in random two-dimensional electron systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohtsuki, Tomoki; Ohtsuki, Tomi

    2016-01-01

    Random electron systems show rich phases such as Anderson insulator, diffusive metal, quantum Hall and quantum anomalous Hall insulators, Weyl semimetal, as well as strong/weak topological insulators. Eigenfunctions of each matter phase have specific features, but owing to the random nature of systems, determining the matter phase from eigenfunctions is difficult. Here, we propose the deep learning algorithm to capture the features of eigenfunctions. Localization-delocalization transition, as well as disordered Chern insulator-Anderson insulator transition, is discussed. (author)

  9. High-efficiency thermal switch based on topological Josephson junctions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sothmann, Björn; Giazotto, Francesco; Hankiewicz, Ewelina M.

    2017-02-01

    We propose theoretically a thermal switch operating by the magnetic-flux controlled diffraction of phase-coherent heat currents in a thermally biased Josephson junction based on a two-dimensional topological insulator. For short junctions, the system shows a sharp switching behavior while for long junctions the switching is smooth. Physically, the switching arises from the Doppler shift of the superconducting condensate due to screening currents induced by a magnetic flux. We suggest a possible experimental realization that exhibits a relative temperature change of 40% between the on and off state for realistic parameters. This is a factor of two larger than in recently realized thermal modulators based on conventional superconducting tunnel junctions.

  10. Thickness dependent quantum oscillations of transport properties in topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rogacheva, E. I.; Budnik, A. V.; Sipatov, A. Yu.; Nashchekina, O. N. [National Technical University “Kharkov Polytechnic Institute,” 21 Frunze St., Kharkov 61002 (Ukraine); Dresselhaus, M. S. [Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

    2015-02-02

    The dependences of the electrical conductivity, the Hall coefficient, and the Seebeck coefficient on the layer thickness d (d = 18−600 nm) of p-type topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films grown by thermal evaporation in vacuum on glass substrates were obtained at room temperature. In the thickness range of d = 18–100 nm, sustained oscillations with a substantial amplitude were revealed. The observed oscillations are well approximated by a harmonic function with a period Δd = (9.5 ± 0.5) nm. At d > 100 nm, the transport coefficients practically do not change as d is increased. The oscillations of the kinetic properties are attributed to the quantum size effects due to the hole confinement in the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} quantum wells. The results of the theoretical calculations of Δd within the framework of a model of an infinitely deep potential well are in good agreement with the experimental results. It is suggested that the substantial amplitude of the oscillations and their sustained character as a function of d are connected with the topologically protected gapless surface states of Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and are inherent to topological insulators.

  11. Topological hierarchy matters — topological matters with superlattices of defects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Jing; Kou Su-Peng

    2016-01-01

    Topological insulators/superconductors are new states of quantum matter with metallic edge/surface states. In this paper, we review the defects effect in these topological states and study new types of topological matters — topological hierarchy matters. We find that both topological defects (quantized vortices) and non topological defects (vacancies) can induce topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters after considering the superlattice of defects. These topological mid-gap states have nontrivial topological properties, including the nonzero Chern number and the gapless edge states. Effective tight-binding models are obtained to describe the topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters. (topical review)

  12. Three Dimensional Dirac Semimetals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaheer, Saad

    2014-03-01

    Dirac points on the Fermi surface of two dimensional graphene are responsible for its unique electronic behavior. One can ask whether any three dimensional materials support similar pseudorelativistic physics in their bulk electronic spectra. This possibility has been investigated theoretically and is now supported by two successful experimental demonstrations reported during the last year. In this talk, I will summarize the various ways in which Dirac semimetals can be realized in three dimensions with primary focus on a specific theory developed on the basis of representations of crystal spacegroups. A three dimensional Dirac (Weyl) semimetal can appear in the presence (absence) of inversion symmetry by tuning parameters to the phase boundary separating a bulk insulating and a topological insulating phase. More generally, we find that specific rules governing crystal symmetry representations of electrons with spin lead to robust Dirac points at high symmetry points in the Brillouin zone. Combining these rules with microscopic considerations identifies six candidate Dirac semimetals. Another method towards engineering Dirac semimetals involves combining crystal symmetry and band inversion. Several candidate materials have been proposed utilizing this mechanism and one of the candidates has been successfully demonstrated as a Dirac semimetal in two independent experiments. Work carried out in collaboration with: Julia A. Steinberg, Steve M. Young, J.C.Y. Teo, C.L. Kane, E.J. Mele and Andrew M. Rappe.

  13. Complete theory of symmetry-based indicators of band topology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Po, Hoi Chun; Vishwanath, Ashvin; Watanabe, Haruki

    2017-06-30

    The interplay between symmetry and topology leads to a rich variety of electronic topological phases, protecting states such as the topological insulators and Dirac semimetals. Previous results, like the Fu-Kane parity criterion for inversion-symmetric topological insulators, demonstrate that symmetry labels can sometimes unambiguously indicate underlying band topology. Here we develop a systematic approach to expose all such symmetry-based indicators of band topology in all the 230 space groups. This is achieved by first developing an efficient way to represent band structures in terms of elementary basis states, and then isolating the topological ones by removing the subset of atomic insulators, defined by the existence of localized symmetric Wannier functions. Aside from encompassing all earlier results on such indicators, including in particular the notion of filling-enforced quantum band insulators, our theory identifies symmetry settings with previously hidden forms of band topology, and can be applied to the search for topological materials.Understanding the role of topology in determining electronic structure can lead to the discovery, or appreciation, of materials with exotic properties such as protected surface states. Here, the authors present a framework for identifying topologically distinct band-structures for all 3D space groups.

  14. Extremely large nonsaturating magnetoresistance and ultrahigh mobility due to topological surface states in the metallic Bi2Te3 topological insulator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrestha, K.; Chou, M.; Graf, D.; Yang, H. D.; Lorenz, B.; Chu, C. W.

    2017-05-01

    Weak antilocalization (WAL) effects in Bi2Te3 single crystals have been investigated at high and low bulk charge-carrier concentrations. At low charge-carrier density the WAL curves scale with the normal component of the magnetic field, demonstrating the dominance of topological surface states in magnetoconductivity. At high charge-carrier density the WAL curves scale with neither the applied field nor its normal component, implying a mixture of bulk and surface conduction. WAL due to topological surface states shows no dependence on the nature (electrons or holes) of the bulk charge carriers. The observations of an extremely large nonsaturating magnetoresistance and ultrahigh mobility in the samples with lower carrier density further support the presence of surface states. The physical parameters characterizing the WAL effects are calculated using the Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka formula. At high charge-carrier concentrations, there is a greater number of conduction channels and a decrease in the phase coherence length compared to low charge-carrier concentrations. The extremely large magnetoresistance and high mobility of topological insulators have great technological value and can be exploited in magnetoelectric sensors and memory devices.

  15. The Topological Structure of the SU(2) Chern–Simons Topological Current in the Four-Dimensional Quantum Hall Effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiu-Ming, Zhang; Yi-Shi, Duan

    2010-01-01

    In the light of the decomposition of the SU(2) gauge potential for I = 1/2, we obtain the SU(2) Chern-Simons current over S 4 , i.e. the vortex current in the effective field for the four-dimensional quantum Hall effect. Similar to the vortex excitations in the two-dimensional quantum Hall effect (2D FQH) which are generated from the zero points of the complex scalar field, in the 4D FQH, we show that the SU(2) Chern–Simons vortices are generated from the zero points of the two-component wave functions Ψ, and their topological charges are quantized in terms of the Hopf indices and Brouwer degrees of φ-mapping under the condition that the zero points of field Ψ are regular points. (condensed matter: electronicstructure, electrical, magnetic, and opticalproperties)

  16. Topology and incompleteness for 2+1-dimensional cosmological spacetimes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fajman, David

    2017-06-01

    We study the long-time behavior of the Einstein flow coupled to matter on 2-dimensional surfaces. We consider massless matter models such as collisionless matter composed of massless particles, massless scalar fields and radiation fluids and show that the maximal globally hyperbolic development of homogeneous and isotropic initial data on the 2-sphere is geodesically incomplete in both time directions, i.e. the spacetime recollapses. This behavior also holds for open sets of initial data. In particular, we construct classes of recollapsing 2+1-dimensional spacetimes with spherical spatial topology which provide evidence for a closed universe recollapse conjecture for massless matter models in 2+1 dimensions. Furthermore, we construct solutions with toroidal and higher genus topology for the massless matter fields, which in both cases are future complete. The spacetimes with toroidal topology are 2+1-dimensional analogies of the Einstein-de Sitter model. In addition, we point out a general relation between the energy-momentum tensor and the Kretschmann scalar in 2+1 dimensions and use it to infer strong cosmic censorship for all these models. In view of this relation, we also recall corresponding models containing massive particles, constructed in a previous work and determine the nature of their initial singularities. We conclude that the global structure of non-vacuum cosmological spacetimes in 2+1 dimensions is determined by the mass of particles and—in the homogeneous and isotropic setting studied here—verifies strong cosmic censorship.

  17. Signatures of topological superconductivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peng, Yang

    2017-07-19

    The prediction and experimental discovery of topological insulators brought the importance of topology in condensed matter physics into the limelight. Topology hence acts as a new dimension along which more and more new states of matter start to emerge. One of these topological states of matter, namely topological superconductors, comes into the focus because of their gapless excitations. These gapless excitations, especially in one dimensional topological superconductors, are Majorana zero modes localized at the ends of the superconductor and exhibit exotic nonabelian statistics, which can be potentially applied to fault-tolerant quantum computation. Given their highly interesting physical properties and potential applications to quantum computation, both theorists and experimentalists spend great efforts to realize topological supercondoctors and to detect Majoranas. In two projects within this thesis, we investigate the properties of Majorana zero modes in realistic materials which are absent in simple theoretical models. We find that the superconducting proximity effect, an essential ingredient in all existing platforms for topological superconductors, plays a significant role in determining the localization property of the Majoranas. Strong proximity coupling between the normal system and the superconducting substrate can lead to strongly localized Majoranas, which can explain the observation in a recent experiment. Motivated by experiments in Molenkamp's group, we also look at realistic quantum spin Hall Josephson junctions, in which charge puddles acting as magnetic impurities are coupled to the helical edge states. We find that with this setup, the junction generically realizes an exotic 8π periodic Josephson effect, which is absent in a pristine Josephson junction. In another two projects, we propose more pronounced signatures of Majoranas that are accessible with current experimental techniques. The first one is a transport measurement, which uses

  18. Protective capping of topological surface states of intrinsically insulating Bi2Te3

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katharina Hoefer

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available We have identified epitaxially grown elemental Te as a capping material that is suited to protect the topological surface states of intrinsically insulating Bi2Te3. By using angle-resolved photoemission, we were able to show that the Te overlayer leaves the dispersive bands of the surface states intact and that it does not alter the chemical potential of the Bi2Te3 thin film. From in-situ four-point contact measurements, we observed that the conductivity of the capped film is still mainly determined by the metallic surface states and that the contribution of the capping layer is minor. Moreover, the Te overlayer can be annealed away in vacuum to produce a clean Bi2Te3 surface in its pristine state even after the exposure of the capped film to air. Our findings will facilitate well-defined and reliable ex-situ experiments on the properties of Bi2Te3 surface states with nontrivial topology.

  19. Topological Insulator State in Thin Bismuth Films Subjected to Plane Tensile Strain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demidov, E. V.; Grabov, V. M.; Komarov, V. A.; Kablukova, N. S.; Krushel'nitskii, A. N.

    2018-03-01

    The results of experimental examination of galvanomagnetic properties of thin bismuth films subjected to plane tensile strain resulting from the difference in thermal expansion coefficients of the substrate material and bismuth are presented. The resistivity, the magnetoresistance, and the Hall coefficient were studied at temperatures ranging from 5 to 300 K in magnetic fields as strong as 0.65 T. Carrier densities were calculated. A considerable increase in carrier density in films thinner than 30 nm was observed. This suggests that surface states are more prominent in thin bismuth films on mica substrates, while the films themselves may exhibit the properties of a topological insulator.

  20. Topology of Event Horizon

    OpenAIRE

    Siino, Masaru

    1997-01-01

    The topologies of event horizons are investigated. Considering the existence of the endpoint of the event horizon, it cannot be differentiable. Then there are the new possibilities of the topology of the event horizon though they are excluded in smooth event horizons. The relation between the topology of the event horizon and the endpoint of it is revealed. A torus event horizon is caused by two-dimensional endpoints. One-dimensional endpoints provide the coalescence of spherical event horizo...

  1. The theory of critical phenomena in two-dimensional systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olvera de la C, M.

    1981-01-01

    An exposition of the theory of critical phenomena in two-dimensional physical systems is presented. The first six chapters deal with the mean field theory of critical phenomena, scale invariance of the thermodynamic functions, Kadanoff's spin block construction, Wilson's renormalization group treatment of critical phenomena in configuration space, and the two-dimensional Ising model on a triangular lattice. The second part of this work is made of four chapters devoted to the application of the ideas expounded in the first part to the discussion of critical phenomena in superfluid films, two-dimensional crystals and the two-dimensional XY model of magnetic systems. Chapters seven to ten are devoted to the following subjects: analysis of long range order in one, two, and three-dimensional physical systems. Topological defects in the XY model, in superfluid films and in two-dimensional crystals. The Thouless-Kosterlitz iterated mean field theory of the dipole gas. The renormalization group treatment of the XY model, superfluid films and two-dimensional crystal. (author)

  2. Reconfigurable topological photonic crystal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shalaev, Mikhail I.; Desnavi, Sameerah; Walasik, Wiktor; Litchinitser, Natalia M.

    2018-02-01

    Topological insulators are materials that conduct on the surface and insulate in their interior due to non-trivial topology of the band structure. The edge states on the interface between topological (non-trivial) and conventional (trivial) insulators are topologically protected from scattering due to structural defects and disorders. Recently, it was shown that photonic crystals (PCs) can serve as a platform for realizing a scatter-free propagation of light waves. In conventional PCs, imperfections, structural disorders, and surface roughness lead to significant losses. The breakthrough in overcoming these problems is likely to come from the synergy of the topological PCs and silicon-based photonics technology that enables high integration density, lossless propagation, and immunity to fabrication imperfections. For many applications, reconfigurability and capability to control the propagation of these non-trivial photonic edge states is essential. One way to facilitate such dynamic control is to use liquid crystals (LCs), which allow to modify the refractive index with external electric field. Here, we demonstrate dynamic control of topological edge states by modifying the refractive index of a LC background medium. Background index is changed depending on the orientation of a LC, while preserving the topology of the system. This results in a change of the spectral position of the photonic bandgap and the topological edge states. The proposed concept might be implemented using conventional semiconductor technology, and can be used for robust energy transport in integrated photonic devices, all-optical circuity, and optical communication systems.

  3. Geometric Model of Topological Insulators from the Maxwell Algebra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palumbo, Giandomenico

    I propose a novel geometric model of time-reversal-invariant topological insulators in three dimensions in presence of an external electromagnetic field. Their gapped boundary supports relativistic quantum Hall states and is described by a Chern-Simons theory, where the gauge connection takes values in the Maxwell algebra. This represents a non-central extension of the Poincare' algebra and takes into account both the Lorentz and magnetic-translation symmetries of the surface states. In this way, I derive a relativistic version of the Wen-Zee term and I show that the non-minimal coupling between the background geometry and the electromagnetic field in the model is in agreement with the main properties of the relativistic quantum Hall states in the flat space. This work is part of the DITP consortium, a program of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) that is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW).

  4. Novel topological invariants and anomalies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirayama, M.; Sugimasa, N.

    1987-01-01

    It is shown that novel topological invariants are associated with a class of Dirac operators. Trace formulas which are similar to but different from Callias's formula are derived. Implications of these topological invariants to anomalies in quantum field theory are discussed. A new class of anomalies are calculated for two models: one is two dimensional and the other four dimensional

  5. Optically tunable spin transport on the surface of a topological insulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yudin, D; Shelykh, I A; Kibis, O V

    2016-01-01

    The emerging field of spinoptronics has a potential to supersede the functionality of modern electronics, while a proper description of strong light–matter coupling pose the most intriguing questions from both fundamental scientific and technological perspectives. In this paper we address a highly relevant issue for such a development. We theoretically explore spin dynamics on the surface of a 3D topological insulator (TI) irradiated with an off-resonant high-frequency electromagnetic wave. The strong coupling between electrons and the electromagnetic wave drastically modifies the spin properties of TI. The effects of irradiation are shown to result in anisotropy of electron energy spectrum near the Dirac point and suppression of spin current and are investigated in detail in this work. (paper)

  6. Topological gravity with minimal matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Keke

    1991-01-01

    Topological minimal matter, obtained by twisting the minimal N = 2 supeconformal field theory, is coupled to two-dimensional topological gravity. The free field formulation of the coupled system allows explicit representations of BRST charge, physical operators and their correlation functions. The contact terms of the physical operators may be evaluated by extending the argument used in a recent solution of topological gravity without matter. The consistency of the contact terms in correlation functions implies recursion relations which coincide with the Virasoro constraints derived from the multi-matrix models. Topological gravity with minimal matter thus provides the field theoretic description for the multi-matrix models of two-dimensional quantum gravity. (orig.)

  7. Topological semimetal in honeycomb lattice LnSI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nie, Simin; Xu, Gang; Prinz, Fritz B.; Zhang, Shou-cheng

    2017-10-01

    Recognized as elementary particles in the standard model, Weyl fermions in condensed matter have received growing attention. However, most of the previously reported Weyl semimetals exhibit rather complicated electronic structures that, in turn, may have raised questions regarding the underlying physics. Here, we report promising topological phases that can be realized in specific honeycomb lattices, including ideal Weyl semimetal structures, 3D strong topological insulators, and nodal-line semimetal configurations. In particular, we highlight a semimetal featuring both Weyl nodes and nodal lines. Guided by this model, we showed that GdSI, the long-perceived ideal Weyl semimetal, has two pairs of Weyl nodes residing at the Fermi level and that LuSI (YSI) is a 3D strong topological insulator with the right-handed helical surface states. Our work provides a mechanism to study topological semimetals and proposes a platform for exploring the physics of Weyl semimetals as well as related device designs.

  8. Topological Acoustic Delay Line

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhiwang; Tian, Ye; Cheng, Ying; Wei, Qi; Liu, Xiaojun; Christensen, Johan

    2018-03-01

    Topological protected wave engineering in artificially structured media is at the frontier of ongoing metamaterials research that is inspired by quantum mechanics. Acoustic analogues of electronic topological insulators have recently led to a wealth of new opportunities in manipulating sound propagation with strikingly unconventional acoustic edge modes immune to backscattering. Earlier fabrications of topological insulators are characterized by an unreconfigurable geometry and a very narrow frequency response, which severely hinders the exploration and design of useful devices. Here we establish topologically protected sound in reconfigurable phononic crystals that can be switched on and off simply by rotating its three-legged "atoms" without altering the lattice structure. In particular, we engineer robust phase delay defects that take advantage of the ultrabroadband reflection-free sound propagation. Such topological delay lines serve as a paradigm in compact acoustic devices, interconnects, and electroacoustic integrated circuits.

  9. A series of three-dimensional lanthanide coordination polymers with rutile and unprecedented rutile-related topologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Chao; Wang, Xin-Long; Wang, En-Bo; Su, Zhong-Min

    2005-10-03

    The complexes of formulas Ln(pydc)(Hpydc) (Ln = Sm (1), Eu (2), Gd (3); H2pydc = pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylic acid) and Ln(pydc)(bc)(H2O) (Ln = Sm (4), Gd (5); Hbc = benzenecarboxylic acid) have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, TG analysis, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 1-3 are isomorphous and crystallize in the orthorhombic system, space group Pbcn. Their final three-dimensional racemic frameworks can be considered as being constructed by helix-linked scalelike sheets. Compounds 4 and 5 are isostructural and crystallize in the monoclinic system, space group P2(1)/c. pydc ligands bridge dinuclear lanthanide centers to form the three-dimensional frameworks featuring hexagonal channels along the a-axis that are occupied by one-end-coordinated bc ligands. From the topological point of view, the five three-dimensional nets are binodal with six- and three-connected nodes, the former of which exhibit a rutile-related (4.6(2))(2)(4(2).6(9).8(4)) topology that is unprecedented within coordination frames, and the latter two species display a distorted rutile (4.6(2))(2)(4(2).6(10).8(3)) topology. Furthermore, the luminescent properties of 2 were studied.

  10. Design of Chern insulating phases in honeycomb lattices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickett, Warren E.; Lee, Kwan-Woo; Pentcheva, Rossitza

    2018-06-01

    The search for robust examples of the magnetic version of topological insulators, referred to as quantum anomalous Hall insulators or simply Chern insulators, so far lacks success. Our groups have explored two distinct possibilities based on multiorbital 3d oxide honeycomb lattices. Each has a Chern insulating phase near the ground state, but materials parameters were not appropriate to produce a viable Chern insulator. Further exploration of one of these classes, by substituting open shell 3d with 4d and 5d counterparts, has led to realistic prediction of Chern insulating ground states. Here we recount the design process, discussing the many energy scales that are active in participating (or resisting) the desired Chern insulator phase.

  11. Quantum and Classical Optics of Plasmonic Systems: 3D/2D Materials and Photonic Topological Insulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassani Gangaraj, Seyyed Ali

    . The ability to guide the energy from one quantum dot to another one is a great advantage to achieve highly entangled states. Here, in this thesis for the first time, we investigated the unidirectional surface wave assisted entanglement in PTIs. We have investigated spontaneous and pumped entanglement of two level systems (quantum dots) in the vicinity of a photonic topological insulator interface, which supports a unidirectional SPP in the common bandgap of the bulk materials. We also have derived a master equation for quantum dots interactions in a general three-dimensional, nonreciprocal, inhomogeneous and lossy environment. The resulting entanglement is shown to be extremely robust to defects occurring in the material system.

  12. Localization and diagonalization. A review of functional integral techniques for low-dimensional gauge theories and topological field theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blau, M.; Thompson, G.

    1995-01-01

    We review localization techniques for functional integrals which have recently been used to perform calculations in and gain insight into the structure of certain topological field theories and low-dimensional gauge theories. These are the functional integral counterparts of the Mathai-Quillen formalism, the Duistermaat-Heckman theorem, and the Weyl integral formula respectively. In each case, we first introduce the necessary mathematical background (Euler classes of vector bundles, equivariant cohomology, topology of Lie groups), and describe the finite dimensional integration formulae. We then discuss some applications to path integrals and give an overview of the relevant literature. The applications we deal with include supersymmetric quantum mechanics, cohomological field theories, phase space path integrals, and two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory. (author). 83 refs

  13. Two-dimensional Dirac fermions in thin films of C d3A s2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galletti, Luca; Schumann, Timo; Shoron, Omor F.; Goyal, Manik; Kealhofer, David A.; Kim, Honggyu; Stemmer, Susanne

    2018-03-01

    Two-dimensional states in confined thin films of the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal C d3A s2 are probed by transport and capacitance measurements under applied magnetic and electric fields. The results establish the two-dimensional Dirac electronic spectrum of these states. We observe signatures of p -type conduction in the two-dimensional states as the Fermi level is tuned across their charge neutrality point and the presence of a zero-energy Landau level, all of which indicate topologically nontrivial states. The resistance at the charge neutrality point is approximately h /e2 and increases rapidly under the application of a magnetic field. The results open many possibilities for gate-tunable topological devices and for the exploration of novel physics in the zero-energy Landau level.

  14. Two Topologically Distinct Dirac-Line Semimetal Phases and Topological Phase Transitions in Rhombohedrally Stacked Honeycomb Lattices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyart, T.; Ojajärvi, R.; Heikkilä, T. T.

    2018-04-01

    Three-dimensional topological semimetals can support band crossings along one-dimensional curves in the momentum space (nodal lines or Dirac lines) protected by structural symmetries and topology. We consider rhombohedrally (ABC) stacked honeycomb lattices supporting Dirac lines protected by time-reversal, inversion and spin rotation symmetries. For typical band structure parameters there exists a pair of nodal lines in the momentum space extending through the whole Brillouin zone in the stacking direction. We show that these Dirac lines are topologically distinct from the usual Dirac lines which form closed loops inside the Brillouin zone. In particular, an energy gap can be opened only by first merging the Dirac lines going through the Brillouin zone in a pairwise manner so that they turn into closed loops inside the Brillouin zone, and then by shrinking these loops into points. We show that this kind of topological phase transition can occur in rhombohedrally stacked honeycomb lattices by tuning the ratio of the tunneling amplitudes in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the layers. We also discuss the properties of the surface states in the different phases of the model.

  15. Topological triplon modes and bound states in a Shastry-Sutherland magnet

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClarty, P. A.; Krüger, F.; Guidi, T.; Parker, S. F.; Refson, K.; Parker, A. W.; Prabhakaran, D.; Coldea, R.

    2017-08-01

    The twin discoveries of the quantum Hall effect, in the 1980s, and of topological band insulators, in the 2000s, were landmarks in physics that enriched our view of the electronic properties of solids. In a nutshell, these discoveries have taught us that quantum mechanical wavefunctions in crystalline solids may carry nontrivial topological invariants which have ramifications for the observable physics. One of the side effects of the recent topological insulator revolution has been that such physics is much more widespread than was appreciated ten years ago. For example, while topological insulators were originally studied in the context of electron wavefunctions, recent work has initiated a hunt for topological insulators in bosonic systems: in photonic crystals, in the vibrational modes of crystals, and in the excitations of ordered magnets. Using inelastic neutron scattering along with theoretical calculations, we demonstrate that, in a weak magnetic field, the dimerized quantum magnet SrCu2(BO3)2 is a bosonic topological insulator with topologically protected chiral edge modes of triplon excitations.

  16. Geared Topological Metamaterials with Tunable Mechanical Stability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne S. Meeussen

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The classification of materials into insulators and conductors has been shaken up by the discovery of topological insulators that conduct robustly at the edge but not in the bulk. In mechanics, designating a material as insulating or conducting amounts to asking if it is rigid or floppy. Although mechanical structures that display topological floppy modes have been proposed, they are all vulnerable to global collapse. Here, we design and build mechanical metamaterials that are stable and yet capable of harboring protected edge and bulk modes, analogous to those in electronic topological insulators and Weyl semimetals. To do so, we exploit gear assemblies that, unlike point masses connected by springs, incorporate both translational and rotational degrees of freedom. Global structural stability is achieved by eliminating geometrical frustration of collective gear rotations extending through the assembly. The topological robustness of the mechanical modes makes them appealing across scales from engineered macrostructures to networks of toothed microrotors of potential use in micromachines.

  17. Entanglement entropy for (3+1)-dimensional topological order with excitations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Xueda; He, Huan; Tiwari, Apoorv; Zheng, Yunqin; Ye, Peng

    2018-02-01

    Excitations in (3+1)-dimensional [(3+1)D] topologically ordered phases have very rich structures. (3+1)D topological phases support both pointlike and stringlike excitations, and in particular the loop (closed string) excitations may admit knotted and linked structures. In this work, we ask the following question: How do different types of topological excitations contribute to the entanglement entropy or, alternatively, can we use the entanglement entropy to detect the structure of excitations, and further obtain the information of the underlying topological order? We are mainly interested in (3+1)D topological order that can be realized in Dijkgraaf-Witten (DW) gauge theories, which are labeled by a finite group G and its group 4-cocycle ω ∈H4[G ;U(1 ) ] up to group automorphisms. We find that each topological excitation contributes a universal constant lndi to the entanglement entropy, where di is the quantum dimension that depends on both the structure of the excitation and the data (G ,ω ) . The entanglement entropy of the excitations of the linked/unlinked topology can capture different information of the DW theory (G ,ω ) . In particular, the entanglement entropy introduced by Hopf-link loop excitations can distinguish certain group 4-cocycles ω from the others.

  18. Landau quantization and spin-momentum locking in topological Kondo insulators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Schlottmann

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available SmB6 has been predicted to be a strong topological Kondo insulator and experimentally it has been confirmed that at low temperatures the electrical conductivity only takes place at the surfaces of the crystal. Quantum oscillations and ARPES measurements revealed several Dirac cones on the (001 and (101 surfaces of the crystal. We considered three types of surface Dirac cones with an additional parabolic dispersion and studied their Landau quantization and the expectation value of the spin of the electrons. The Landau quantization is quite similar in all three cases and would give rise to very similar de Haas-van Alphen oscillations. The spin-momentum locking, on the other hand, differs dramatically. Without the additional parabolic dispersion the spins are locked in the plane of the surface. The parabolic dispersion, however, produces a gradual canting of the spins out of the surface plane.

  19. Effect of disorders on topological phases in one-dimensional optical superlattices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Zhizhou; Wu Yidong; Du Huijing; Jing Xili

    2016-01-01

    In a recent paper, Lang et al. proposed that edge states and topological phases can be observed in one-dimensional optical superlattices. They showed that the topological phases can be revealed by observing the density profile of a trapped fermion system, which displays plateaus with their positions. However, disorders are not considered in their model. To study the effect of disorders on the topological phases, we introduce random potentials to the model for optical superlattcies. Our calculations show that edge states are robust against the disorders. We find the edge states are very sensitive to the number of the sites in the optical superlattice and we propose a simple rule to describe the relationship between the edge states and the number of sites. The density plateaus are also robust against weak disorders provided that the average density is calculated over a long interval. The widths of the plateaus are proportional to the widths of the bulk energy gaps when there are disorders. The disorders can diminish the bulk energy gaps. So the widths of the plateaus decrease with the increase of disorders and the density plateaus disappear when disorders are too strong. The results in our paper can be used to guide the experimental detection of topological phases in one-dimensional systems. (paper)

  20. Topology Optimized Photonic Wire Splitters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frandsen, Lars Hagedorn; Borel, Peter Ingo; Jensen, Jakob Søndergaard

    2006-01-01

    Photonic wire splitters have been designed using topology optimization. The splitters have been fabricated in silicon-on-insulator material and display broadband low-loss 3dB splitting in a bandwidth larger than 100 nm.......Photonic wire splitters have been designed using topology optimization. The splitters have been fabricated in silicon-on-insulator material and display broadband low-loss 3dB splitting in a bandwidth larger than 100 nm....

  1. Strong interband Faraday rotation in 3D topological insulator Bi2Se3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohnoutek, L; Hakl, M; Veis, M; Piot, B A; Faugeras, C; Martinez, G; Yakushev, M V; Martin, R W; Drašar, Č; Materna, A; Strzelecka, G; Hruban, A; Potemski, M; Orlita, M

    2016-01-11

    The Faraday effect is a representative magneto-optical phenomenon, resulting from the transfer of angular momentum between interacting light and matter in which time-reversal symmetry has been broken by an externally applied magnetic field. Here we report on the Faraday rotation induced in the prominent 3D topological insulator Bi2Se3 due to bulk interband excitations. The origin of this non-resonant effect, extraordinarily strong among other non-magnetic materials, is traced back to the specific Dirac-type Hamiltonian for Bi2Se3, which implies that electrons and holes in this material closely resemble relativistic particles with a non-zero rest mass.

  2. Fingerprints of a Bosonic Symmetry-Protected Topological State in a Quantum Point Contact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Rui-Xing; Liu, Chao-Xing

    2017-05-01

    In this work, we study the transport through a quantum point contact for bosonic helical liquid that exists at the edge of a bilayer graphene under a strong magnetic field. We identify "smoking gun" transport signatures to distinguish a bosonic symmetry-protected topological (BSPT) state from a fermionic two-channel quantum spin Hall (QSH) state in this system. In particular, a novel charge-insulator-spin-conductor phase is found for the BSPT state, while either the charge-insulator-spin-insulator or the charge-conductor-spin-conductor phase is expected for the two-channel QSH state. Consequently, a simple transport measurement will reveal the fingerprint of bosonic topological physics in bilayer graphene systems.

  3. Phase Coherence and Andreev Reflection in Topological Insulator Devices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. D. K. Finck

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Topological insulators (TIs have attracted immense interest because they host helical surface states. Protected by time-reversal symmetry, they are robust to nonmagnetic disorder. When superconductivity is induced in these helical states, they are predicted to emulate p-wave pairing symmetry, with Majorana states bound to vortices. Majorana bound states possess non-Abelian exchange statistics that can be probed through interferometry. Here, we take a significant step towards Majorana interferometry by observing pronounced Fabry-Pérot oscillations in a TI sandwiched between a superconducting and a normal lead. For energies below the superconducting gap, we observe a doubling in the frequency of the oscillations, arising from an additional phase from Andreev reflection. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the TI surface, a number of very sharp and gate-tunable conductance peaks appear at or near zero energy, which has consequences for interpreting spectroscopic probes of Majorana fermions. Our results demonstrate that TIs are a promising platform for exploring phase-coherent transport in a solid-state system.

  4. Disorder effects in topological states: Brief review of the recent developments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Binglan; Zhou Jiaojiao; Jiang Hua; Song Juntao

    2016-01-01

    Disorder inevitably exists in realistic samples, manifesting itself in various exotic properties for the topological states. In this paper, we summarize and briefly review the work completed over the last few years, including our own, regarding recent developments in several topics about disorder effects in topological states. For weak disorder, the robustness of topological states is demonstrated, especially for both quantum spin Hall states with Z 2 = 1 and size induced nontrivial topological insulators with Z 2 = 0. For moderate disorder, by increasing the randomness of both the impurity distribution and the impurity induced potential, the topological insulator states can be created from normal metallic or insulating states. These phenomena and their mechanisms are summarized. For strong disorder, the disorder causes a metal–insulator transition. Due to their topological nature, the phase diagrams are much richer in topological state systems. Finally, the trends in these areas of disorder research are discussed. (topical review)

  5. Magnetic and structural properties of Mn-doped Bi.sub.2./sub.Se.sub.3./sub. topological insulators

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Tarasenko, R.; Vališka, M.; Vondráček, Martin; Horáková, Kateřina; Tkáč, V.; Carva, K.; Baláž, P.; Holý, V.; Springholz, G.; Sechovský, V.; Honolka, Jan

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 481, Jan (2016), 262-267 ISSN 0378-4363 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-30062S; GA MŠk LO1409; GA MŠk(CZ) LM2011029 Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) Fellowship J. E. Purkyně Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : topological insulator * Mn-doped Bi 2 Se 3 * X-ray diffraction * X-ray photoemission * spectroscopy * ferromagnetism Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism

  6. Tunable Topological Phononic Crystals

    KAUST Repository

    Chen, Zeguo

    2016-05-27

    Topological insulators first observed in electronic systems have inspired many analogues in photonic and phononic crystals in which remarkable one-way propagation edge states are supported by topologically nontrivial band gaps. Such band gaps can be achieved by breaking the time-reversal symmetry to lift the degeneracy associated with Dirac cones at the corners of the Brillouin zone. Here, we report on our construction of a phononic crystal exhibiting a Dirac-like cone in the Brillouin zone center. We demonstrate that simultaneously breaking the time-reversal symmetry and altering the geometric size of the unit cell result in a topological transition that we verify by the Chern number calculation and edge-mode analysis. We develop a complete model based on the tight binding to uncover the physical mechanisms of the topological transition. Both the model and numerical simulations show that the topology of the band gap is tunable by varying both the velocity field and the geometric size; such tunability may dramatically enrich the design and use of acoustic topological insulators.

  7. Tunable Topological Phononic Crystals

    KAUST Repository

    Chen, Zeguo; Wu, Ying

    2016-01-01

    Topological insulators first observed in electronic systems have inspired many analogues in photonic and phononic crystals in which remarkable one-way propagation edge states are supported by topologically nontrivial band gaps. Such band gaps can be achieved by breaking the time-reversal symmetry to lift the degeneracy associated with Dirac cones at the corners of the Brillouin zone. Here, we report on our construction of a phononic crystal exhibiting a Dirac-like cone in the Brillouin zone center. We demonstrate that simultaneously breaking the time-reversal symmetry and altering the geometric size of the unit cell result in a topological transition that we verify by the Chern number calculation and edge-mode analysis. We develop a complete model based on the tight binding to uncover the physical mechanisms of the topological transition. Both the model and numerical simulations show that the topology of the band gap is tunable by varying both the velocity field and the geometric size; such tunability may dramatically enrich the design and use of acoustic topological insulators.

  8. Non-Abelian string and particle braiding in topological order: Modular SL (3 ,Z ) representation and (3 +1 ) -dimensional twisted gauge theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Juven C.; Wen, Xiao-Gang

    2015-01-01

    String and particle braiding statistics are examined in a class of topological orders described by discrete gauge theories with a gauge group G and a 4-cocycle twist ω4 of G 's cohomology group H4(G ,R /Z ) in three-dimensional space and one-dimensional time (3 +1 D ) . We establish the topological spin and the spin-statistics relation for the closed strings and their multistring braiding statistics. The 3 +1 D twisted gauge theory can be characterized by a representation of a modular transformation group, SL (3 ,Z ) . We express the SL (3 ,Z ) generators Sx y z and Tx y in terms of the gauge group G and the 4-cocycle ω4. As we compactify one of the spatial directions z into a compact circle with a gauge flux b inserted, we can use the generators Sx y and Tx y of an SL (2 ,Z ) subgroup to study the dimensional reduction of the 3D topological order C3 D to a direct sum of degenerate states of 2D topological orders Cb2 D in different flux b sectors: C3 D=⊕bCb2 D . The 2D topological orders Cb2 D are described by 2D gauge theories of the group G twisted by the 3-cocycle ω3 (b ), dimensionally reduced from the 4-cocycle ω4. We show that the SL (2 ,Z ) generators, Sx y and Tx y, fully encode a particular type of three-string braiding statistics with a pattern that is the connected sum of two Hopf links. With certain 4-cocycle twists, we discover that, by threading a third string through two-string unlink into a three-string Hopf-link configuration, Abelian two-string braiding statistics is promoted to non-Abelian three-string braiding statistics.

  9. Transmission through a potential barrier in Luttinger liquids with a topological spin gap

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kainaris, Nikolaos; Carr, Sam T.; Mirlin, Alexander D.

    2018-03-01

    We study theoretically the transport of the one-dimensional single-channel interacting electron gas through a strong potential barrier in the parameter regime where the spin sector of the low-energy theory is gapped by interaction (Luther-Emery liquid). There are two distinct phases of this nature, of which one is of particular interest as it exhibits nontrivial interaction-induced topological properties. Focusing on this phase and using bosonization and an expansion in the tunneling strength we calculate the conductance through the barrier as a function of the temperature as well as the local density of states (LDOS) at the barrier. Our main result concerns the mechanism of bound-state-mediated tunneling. The characteristic feature of the topological phase is the emergence of protected zero-energy bound states with fractional spin located at the impurity position. By flipping this fractional spin, single electrons can tunnel across the impurity even though the bulk spectrum for spin excitations is gapped. This results in a finite LDOS below the bulk gap and in a nonmonotonic behavior of the conductance. The system represents an important physical example of an interacting symmetry-protected topological phase, which combines features of a topological spin insulator and a topological charge metal, in which the topology can be probed by measuring transport properties.

  10. Topological phase transition in the quench dynamics of a one-dimensional Fermi gas

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Pei; Yi, Wei; Xianlong, Gao

    2014-01-01

    We study the quench dynamics of a one-dimensional ultracold Fermi gas in an optical lattice potential with synthetic spin-orbit coupling. At equilibrium, the ground state of the system can undergo a topological phase transition and become a topological superfluid with Majorana edge states. As the interaction is quenched near the topological phase boundary, we identify an interesting dynamical phase transition of the quenched state in the long-time limit, characterized by an abrupt change of t...

  11. Ultrafast surface carrier dynamics in the topological insulator Bi₂Te₃.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajlaoui, M; Papalazarou, E; Mauchain, J; Lantz, G; Moisan, N; Boschetto, D; Jiang, Z; Miotkowski, I; Chen, Y P; Taleb-Ibrahimi, A; Perfetti, L; Marsi, M

    2012-07-11

    We discuss the ultrafast evolution of the surface electronic structure of the topological insulator Bi(2)Te(3) following a femtosecond laser excitation. Using time and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we provide a direct real-time visualization of the transient carrier population of both the surface states and the bulk conduction band. We find that the thermalization of the surface states is initially determined by interband scattering from the bulk conduction band, lasting for about 0.5 ps; subsequently, few picoseconds are necessary for the Dirac cone nonequilibrium electrons to recover a Fermi-Dirac distribution, while their relaxation extends over more than 10 ps. The surface sensitivity of our measurements makes it possible to estimate the range of the bulk-surface interband scattering channel, indicating that the process is effective over a distance of 5 nm or less. This establishes a correlation between the nanoscale thickness of the bulk charge reservoir and the evolution of the ultrafast carrier dynamics in the surface Dirac cone.

  12. Excitonic condensation for the surface states of topological insulator bilayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Zhigang; Fu Zhenguo; Zhang Ping; Hao Ningning

    2012-01-01

    We propose a generic topological insulator bilayer (TIB) system to study the excitonic condensation with self-consistent mean-field (SCMF) theory. We show that the TIB system presents the crossover behavior from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) limit to the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) limit. Moreover, in comparison with traditional semiconductor systems, we find that for the present system the superfluid property in the BEC phase is more sensitive to electron-hole density imbalance and the BCS phase is more robust. Applying this TIB model to the Bi 2 Se 3 -family material, we find that the BEC phase is most likely to be observed in experiment. We also calculate the critical temperature for the Bi 2 Se 3 -family TIB system, which is ∼100 K. More interestingly, one can expect this relative high-temperature excitonic condensation, since our calculated SCMF critical temperature is approximately equal to the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature. (paper)

  13. Emerging Trends in Topological Insulators and Topological ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    tems can lead to a state that supports zero energy Majorana fermions .... orbital motion is a relativistic effect most pronounced in heavy ... 1D helical edge states appear within the gap with a linear disper- ... free fermion in 1D. .... less, and electrically neutral. ... to be used as a building block for the next generation topological.

  14. Low-dimensional morphospace of topological motifs in human fMRI brain networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah E. Morgan

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available We present a low-dimensional morphospace of fMRI brain networks, where axes are defined in a data-driven manner based on the network motifs. The morphospace allows us to identify the key variations in healthy fMRI networks in terms of their underlying motifs, and we observe that two principal components (PCs can account for 97% of the motif variability. The first PC of the motif distribution is correlated with efficiency and inversely correlated with transitivity. Hence this axis approximately conforms to the well-known economical small-world trade-off between integration and segregation in brain networks. Finally, we show that the economical clustering generative model proposed by Vértes et al. (2012 can approximately reproduce the motif morphospace of the real fMRI brain networks, in contrast to other generative models. Overall, the motif morphospace provides a powerful way to visualize the relationships between network properties and to investigate generative or constraining factors in the formation of complex human brain functional networks. Motifs have been described as the building blocks of complex networks. Meanwhile, a morphospace allows networks to be placed in a common space and can reveal the relationships between different network properties and elucidate the driving forces behind network topology. We combine the concepts of motifs and morphospaces to create the first motif morphospace of fMRI brain networks. Crucially, the morphospace axes are defined by the motifs, in a data-driven manner. We observe strong correlations between the networks’ positions in morphospace and their global topological properties, suggesting that motif morphospaces are a powerful way to capture the topology of networks in a low-dimensional space and to compare generative models of brain networks. Motif morphospaces could also be used to study other complex networks’ topologies.

  15. Topological crystalline insulator PbxSn1-xTe thin films on SrTiO3 (001 with tunable Fermi levels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hua Guo

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In this letter, we report a systematic study of topological crystalline insulator PbxSn1-xTe (0 < x < 1 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on SrTiO3(001. Two domains of PbxSn1-xTe thin films with intersecting angle of α ≈ 45° were confirmed by reflection high energy diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES. ARPES study of PbxSn1-xTe thin films demonstrated that the Fermi level of PbTe could be tuned by altering the temperature of substrate whereas SnTe cannot. An M-shaped valance band structure was observed only in SnTe but PbTe is in a topological trivial state with a large gap. In addition, co-evaporation of SnTe and PbTe results in an equivalent variation of Pb concentration as well as the Fermi level of PbxSn1-xTe thin films.

  16. Signatures of charge inhomogeneities in the infrared spectra of topological insulators Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dordevic, S V; Wolf, M S; Stojilovic, N; Lei Hechang; Petrovic, C

    2013-01-01

    We present the results of an infrared spectroscopy study of topological insulators Bi 2 Se 3 , Bi 2 Te 3 and Sb 2 Te 3 . Reflectance spectra of all three materials look similar, with a well defined plasma edge. However, there are some important differences. Most notably, as temperature decreases the plasma edge shifts to lower frequencies in Bi 2 Se 3 , whereas in Bi 2 Te 3 and Sb 2 Te 3 it shifts to higher frequencies. In the loss function spectra we identify asymmetric broadening of the plasmon, and assign it to the presence of charge inhomogeneities. It remains to be seen if charge inhomogeneities are characteristic of all topological insulators, and whether they are of intrinsic or extrinsic nature.

  17. Fermi points and topological quantum phase transitions in a multi-band superconductor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puel, T O; Sacramento, P D; Continentino, M A

    2015-10-28

    The importance of models with an exact solution for the study of materials with non-trivial topological properties has been extensively demonstrated. The Kitaev model plays a guiding role in the search for Majorana modes in condensed matter systems. Also, the sp-chain with an anti-symmetric mixing among the s and p bands is a paradigmatic example of a topological insulator with well understood properties. Interestingly, these models share the same universality class for their topological quantum phase transitions. In this work we study a two-band model of spinless fermions with attractive inter-band interactions. We obtain its zero temperature phase diagram, which presents a rich variety of phases including a Weyl superconductor and a topological insulator. The transition from the topological to the trivial superconducting phase has critical exponents different from those of Kitaev's model.

  18. Spin-polarized charge transport in HgTe/CdTe quantum well topological insulator under a ferromagnetic metal strip

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Zhenhua; Luo, Kun; Yu, Jiahan; Wu, Xiaobo; Lin, Liangzhong

    2018-02-01

    Electron tunneling through a single magnetic barrier in a HgTe topological insulator has been theoretically investigated. We find that the perpendicular magnetic field would not lead to spin-flip of the edge states due to the conservation of the angular moment. By tuning the magnetic field and the Fermi energy, the edge channels can be transited from switch-on states to switch-off states and the current from unpolarized states can be filtered to fully spin polarized states. These features offer us an efficient way to control charge/spin transport in a HgTe/CdTe quantum well, and pave a way to construct the nanoelectronic devices utilizing the topological edge states.

  19. Probe Knots and Hopf Insulators with Ultracold Atoms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Dong-Ling; Wang, Sheng-Tao; Sun, Kai; Duan, L.-M.

    2018-01-01

    Knots and links are fascinating and intricate topological objects. Their influence spans from DNA and molecular chemistry to vortices in superfluid helium, defects in liquid crystals and cosmic strings in the early universe. Here we find that knotted structures also exist in a peculiar class of three-dimensional topological insulators—the Hopf insulators. In particular, we demonstrate that the momentum-space spin textures of Hopf insulators are twisted in a nontrivial way, which implies the presence of various knot and link structures. We further illustrate that the knots and nontrivial spin textures can be probed via standard time-of-flight images in cold atoms as preimage contours of spin orientations in stereographic coordinates. The extracted Hopf invariants, knots, and links are validated to be robust to typical experimental imperfections. Our work establishes the existence of knotted structures in Hopf insulators, which may have potential applications in spintronics and quantum information processing. D.L.D., S.T.W. and L.M.D. are supported by the ARL, the IARPA LogiQ program, and the AFOSR MURI program, and supported by Tsinghua University for their visits. K.S. acknowledges the support from NSF under Grant No. PHY1402971. D.L.D. is also supported by JQI-NSF-PFC and LPS-MPO-CMTC at the final stage of this paper.

  20. Charge and Spin Transport in Spin-orbit Coupled and Topological Systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ndiaye, Papa Birame

    2017-10-31

    thermally driven. Chapters 5 and 6 carry throughout tight-binding studies on the topological charge-spin transport in two-dimensional lattices with ferromagnetic skyrmions and 3Q magnetic structure. We use the Landauer-Buttiker formalism and evaluate the robustness of the topological signals. For the 3Q state, a spin-polarized quantum anomalous Hall state with chiral edge modes, unaffected by deformation and disorder, is reachable in zero net magnetization. We finish with concluding remarks and perspectives.