Backscattering of Dirac fermions in HgTe quantum wells with a finite gap

Dynamical Separation of Bulk and Edge Transport in HgTe-Based 2D Topological Insulators

Topological effects in edge states are clearly visible on short lengths only, thus largely impeding their studies. On larger distances, one may be able to dynamically enhance topological signatures by exploiting the high mobility of edge states with respect to bulk carriers. Our work on microwave spectroscopy highlights the response of the edges which host very mobile carriers, while bulk carriers are drastically slowed down in the gap. Though the edges are denser than expected, we establish that charge relaxation occurs on short timescales and suggest that edge states can be addressed selectively on timescales over which bulk carriers are frozen.

High Mobility HgTe Microstructures for Quantum Spin Hall Studies

The topic of two-dimensional topological insulators has blossomed after the first observation of the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect in HgTe quantum wells. However, studies have been hindered by the relative fragility of the edge states. Their stability has been a subject of both theoretical and experimental investigation in the past decade. Here, we present a new generation of high quality (Cd,Hg)Te/HgTe-structures based on a new chemical etching method. From magnetotransport measurements on macro- and microscopic Hall bars, we extract electron mobilities μ up to about 400 × 10³ cm²/(V s), and the mean free path λ_mfp becomes comparable to the sample dimensions. The Hall bars show quantized spin Hall conductance, which is remarkably stable up to 15 K. The clean and robust edge states allow us to fabricate high quality side-contacted Josephson junctions, which are significant in the context of topological superconductivity. Our results open up new avenues for fundamental research on QSH effect as well as potential applications in spintronics and topological quantum computation.

Interplay of Chiral and Helical States in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator Lateral Junction

We study the electronic transport across an electrostatically gated lateral junction in a HgTe quantum well, a canonical 2D topological insulator, with and without an applied magnetic field. We control the carrier density inside and outside a junction region independently and hence tune the number and nature of 1D edge modes propagating in each of those regions. Outside the bulk gap, the magnetic field drives the system to the quantum Hall regime, and chiral states propagate at the edge. In this regime, we observe fractional plateaus that reflect the equilibration between 1D chiral modes across the junction. As the carrier density approaches zero in the central region and at moderate fields, we observe oscillations in the resistance that we attribute to Fabry-Perot interference in the helical states, enabled by the broken time reversal symmetry. At higher fields, those oscillations disappear, in agreement with the expected absence of helical states when band inversion is lifted.

Conformal QED in two-dimensional topological insulators

It has been shown that local four-fermion interactions on the edges of two-dimensional time-reversal-invariant topological insulators give rise to a new non-Fermi-liquid phase, called helical Luttinger liquid (HLL). Here, we provide a first-principle derivation of this HLL based on the gauge-theory approach. We start by considering massless Dirac fermions confined on the one-dimensional boundary of the topological insulator and interacting through a three-dimensional quantum dynamical electromagnetic field. Within these assumptions, through a dimensional-reduction procedure, we derive the effective 1 + 1-dimensional interacting fermionic theory and reveal its underlying gauge theory. In the low-energy regime, the gauge theory that describes the edge states is given by a conformal quantum electrodynamics (CQED), which can be mapped exactly into a HLL with a Luttinger parameter and a renormalized Fermi velocity that depend on the value of the fine-structure constant α.

Electron mobility in semi-metal HgCdTe quantum wells: dependence on the well width

Energy spectra, carrier concentration and electron mobility are numerically modeled in intrinsic and n-type semi-metal HgCdTe quantum wells at T = 77 K. We present results for the electron mobility calculated in a model incorporating electron scattering on longitudinal optical phonons, charged impurities, and holes, and including the 2D electron gas screening for all mentioned scattering mechanisms. Inelasticity of electron–phonon scattering is treated by means of a direct iterative solution of Boltzmann transport equation. Comparison with the experimental data at liquid helium temperature is provided.

Modeling of Noise and Resistance of Semimetal Hg1-xCdxTe Quantum Well used as a Channel for THz Hot-Electron Bolometer

Noise characteristics and resistance of semimetal-type mercury-cadmium-telluride quantum wells (QWs) at the liquid nitrogen temperature are studied numerically, and their dependence on the QW parameters and on the electron concentration is established. The QW band structure calculations are based on the full 8-band k.p Hamiltonian. The electron mobility is simulated by the direct iterative solution of the Boltzmann transport equation, which allows us to include correctly all the principal scattering mechanisms, elastic as well as inelastic.We find that the generation-recombination noise is strongly suppressed due to the very fast recombination processes in semimetal QWs. Hence, the thermal noise should be considered as a main THz sensitivity-limiting mechanism in those structures. Optimization of a semimetal Hg1-xCdxTe QW to make it an efficient THz bolometer channel should include the increase of electron concentration in the well and tuning the molar composition x close to the gapless regime.

One-dimensional weak antilocalization due to the berry phase in HgTe wires

We study the weak antilocalization (WAL) effect in the magnetoresistance of narrow HgTe wires fabricated in quantum wells with normal and inverted band ordering. Measurements at different gate voltages indicate that the WAL is only weakly affected by Rashba spin-orbit splitting and persists when the Rashba splitting is about zero. The WAL amplitude in wires with normal band ordering is an order of magnitude smaller than for wires with an inverted band structure. These observations are attributed to the Dirac-like dispersion of the energy bands in HgTe quantum wells. From the magnetic-field and temperature dependencies we extract the dephasing lengths and band Berry phases. The weaker WAL for samples with a normal band structure can be explained by a nonuniversal Berry phase which always exceeds π, the characteristic value for gapless Dirac fermions.