The surface of a topological insulator is a closed two dimensional manifold. The surface states are described by the Dirac Hamiltonian in curved two dimensional spaces. For a slab-like sample with a magnetic field perpendicular to its top and bottom surfaces, there are chiral states delocalized on the four side faces. These "chiral sheets" carry both charge and spin currents. In strong magnetic fields the quantized charge Hall effect ($\s_{xy}=(2n+1)e^2/h$) will coexist with spin Hall effect.
The RKKY interaction between two impurities on a curved surface is investigated. Practical curved sample parameters are considered for investigating curvatures, similar to those observed experimentally in available samples such as graphene. For this type of two-dimensional curved systems and for two types of Schrödinger and Dirac carriers, the RKKY interaction and local density of states (LDOS) are calculated. Results show that the strength of the RKKY interaction on a curved surface depends significantly on the nature of particles embedded on this surface, indicating that the geometry has a d…
Undistorted monolayer graphene has energy bands which cross at protected Dirac points. It elastically deforms and much research has assumed the Dirac description persists, now in a curved space and coupled to a gauge field related to lattice strain. We show this is incorrect by using a real space gradient expansion to study how the Dirac equation derives from the tight binding model. Generic spatially varying hopping functions give rise to large magnetic fields which spoil the truncation in derivatives. In the perturbative regime, the only consistent truncation to Dirac is one with nontrivial …
Three dimensionally curved graphene with a wide range of curvature radii from 25 nm to 1000 nm demonstrates that nano-scale curvature is a new degree of freedom to tune the transport properties of graphene by manipulating 2D electron kinetics on 3D curved surfaces.
We propose a platform for flat Chern band by subjecting two-dimensional Dirac materials -- such as graphene and topological insulator thin films -- to a periodic magnetic field, which can be created by the vortex lattice of a type-II superconductor. As a generalization of the $n=0$ Landau level, the flat band of Dirac fermion under a nonuniform magnetic field remains at zero energy, exactly dispersionless and topologically protected, while its local density of states is spatially modulated due to the magnetic field variation. In the presence of short-range repulsion, we find fractional Chern i…
We combined periodic ripples and electrostatic potentials to form curved graphene superlattices and studied the effects of space-dependent Fermi velocity induced from curvature on their electronic properties. With equal periods and symmetric potentials, the Dirac points do not move, but their locations shift under asymmetric potentials. This shift can be tuned by curvature and potentials. Tunable extra gaps in band structures can appear with unequal periods. The existence of new Dirac points is proposed, such that these new Dirac points can appear under smaller potentials with curvature, and t…
The spintronic properties of curved nanostructures derived from two-dimensional topological insulators (2DTI's) are explored theoretically with density functional theory-based (DFT) calculations and tight-binding models. We show that curved geometries make it possible to manipulate electron spins in ways that are not available for planar 2DTI devices. We predict that, unlike planar 2DTI devices, curved 2DTI-related nanostructures can function as highly effective {\em two}-terminal spin filters even in the absence of magnetic fields. We construct a generalization to curved geometries of our pre…
A mathematical formulation for particle states and electronic properties of a curved graphene sheet is provided, exploiting a massless Dirac spectrum description for charge carriers living in a curved bidimensional background. In particular, we study how the new description affects the characteristics of the sample, writing an appropriate conductivity Kubo formula for the modified background. Finally, we provide a theoretical analysis for the particular case of a cylindrical graphene sample.
We propose magnonic analogs of topological crystalline insulators which possess Dirac surface states protected by the combined symmetry of time-reversal and half translation. Constructing models of the topological magnon systems, we demonstrate that the energy current flows through the systems in response to an electric field, owing to the Dirac surface states with the spin-momentum locking. We also propose a realization of the magnonic analogs of topological crystalline insulators in a magnetic compound CrI$_{3}$ with a monoclinic structure.
Heavy Dirac fermions in a graphene/topological insulator hetero-junction
石墨烯和三维拓扑绝缘体表面态的低能物理都是用具有线性色散的无隙狄拉克费米子来描述的。在这项工作中，我们预测了一个“重”狄拉克费米子出现在石墨烯/拓扑绝缘体异质结，其中的线性项几乎消失，相应的能量色散变得高度非线性。通过结合{ \it ab initio}计算和一个有效的低能模型，我们明确地显示了如何在石墨烯和拓扑绝缘体的表面态之间的狄拉克费米子的强杂化可以降低狄拉克费米子的费米速度。由于线性项可以忽略不计，相互作用效应将大大增强，并可以驱动“重”狄拉克费米子态到具有非零霍尔电导的半量子霍尔态。
Bilayer Heisenberg ferromagnetic insulators hold degenerate terahertz Dirac magnon modes associated with two opposite valleys of the hexagonal Brillouin zone. We show that this energy degeneracy can be removed by breaking of the inversion symmetry (I), leading to a topological magnon valley current. We show furthermore that this current leads to valley Seebeck effect for magnons and is thereby detectable. We perform calculations in the specific example of bilayer CrBr3, where I can be broken by electrostatic doping.
The recent developments in the emerging field of plasmonics in graphene and other Dirac systems are reviewed and a comprehensive introduction to the standard models and techniques is given. In particular, we discuss intrinsic plasmon excitations of single and bilayer graphene via hydrodynamic equations and the random phase approximation, but also comment on double and multilayer structures. Additionally, we address Dirac systems in the retardation limit and also with large spin-orbit coupling including topological insulators. Finally, we summarize basic properties of the charge, current and ph…
Topological Insulator-Based van der Waals Heterostructures for Effective Control of Massless and Massive Dirac Fermions
三维（3D）拓扑绝缘体（TI）是一类重要的材料，在电子学、自旋电子学和量子计算中具有应用。随着最近真正的体绝缘3D TI的发展，已经有可能在电输运测量中实现表面主导的现象，例如拓扑表面态（TSS）中无质量狄拉克费米子的量子霍尔（QH）效应。然而，为了实现更先进的设备和现象，需要一种平台来以干净的方式调谐TSS或修改它们，例如通过与磁绝缘体接近来使它们间隙化。在这里，我们介绍了范德华（vdW）异质结构的形式拓扑绝缘体/绝缘体/石墨有效地控制化学势的TSS。利用两种类型的栅介质，正常绝缘体六方氮化硼（hBN）和铁磁绝缘体Cr2 Ge 2 Te 6（CGT）来调节四元TI BiSbTeSe 2中TSS的电荷密度。hBN/石墨门控在QH制度表明，通过抑制无质量狄拉克费米子的磁导率，TSS的量子化得到了改善。CGT/石墨门控质量狄拉克费米子在QH制度产生半量子化霍尔电导步骤和狄拉克间隙的措施。我们的工作显示了vdW平台在创建先进的高质量TI器件方面的前景。
Novel Spin-texture on the warped Dirac-cone surface states in topological insulators
我们用第一性原理计算和模型哈密顿量研究了Bi 2 Te 3族三维拓扑绝缘体的表面态性质。当表面狄拉克锥由于菱形结构中的Dresselhaus自旋轨道耦合而翘曲时，自旋获得有限的面外分量。我们预测了一种新的面内自旋纹理的扭曲表面狄拉克锥的自旋不垂直于电子动量。我们的k.p模型计算表明，这种新型的面内自旋纹理需要高阶Dresselhaus自旋轨道耦合项。
We use the Dirac cone model to explore the high Chern number (C) phases that are realized in the magnetic-doped topological insulator (TI) multilayer structures by Zhao et al. [Nature 588, 419 (2020)]. The Chern number is calculated by capturing the evolution of the phase boundaries with the parameters and then the Chern number phase diagrams of the TI multilayer structures are obtained. The high-C behavior is attributed to the band inversion of the renormalized Dirac cones, along with which the spin polarization at the Γpoint will get increased. Moreover, another two TI multilayer structures …
Confining two dimensional Dirac fermions on the surface of topological insulators has remained an outstanding conceptual challenge. Here we show that Dirac fermion confinement is achievable in topological crystalline insulators (TCI), which host multiple surface Dirac cones depending on the surface termination and the symmetries it preserves. This confinement is most dramatically reflected in the flux dependence of these Dirac states in the nanowire geometry, where different facets connect to form a closed surface. Using SnTe as a case study, we show how wires with all four facets of the <100>…
Experimental Observation of Two Massless Dirac-Fermion Gases in Graphene-Topological Insulator Heterostructure
石墨烯和拓扑绝缘体（TI）具有不同物理性质的二维狄拉克费米子。将这两种狄拉克材料集成在一个设备中，为探索相互作用的无质量狄拉克费米子的新物理学创造了有趣的机会。在这里，我们报告了一个实际的路线，实验制造的石墨烯Sb 2 Te 3异质结构。石墨烯-TI异质结构通过使用化学气相沉积生长的石墨烯膜的干法转移来制备。ARPES测量证实了石墨烯的Sb 2 Te 3和Dirac π带的拓扑表面态的共存，并确定了石墨烯-TI异质结构中的扭曲角。结果表明，一个潜在的可调电子平台，其中两个不同的狄拉克低能态主导的输运行为。
