We derived analytical results for the gapless edge states of two-dimensional topological insulators in the presence of electron-surface optical (SO) phonon interaction due to substrates. We followed an analytical algorithm, called Lee-Low-Pines variational approximation in the conventional polaron theory, to examine the substrate induced effects on both bulk and edge states of a two dimensional topological insulator within the frame work of Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang (BHZ) model. By implementing this algorithm, we propose a novel phonon-dressed BHZ Hamiltonian which allows one to investigate the effects of various substrates not only on bulk states but also on the associated gapless helical edge states (HESs). We found that both the bulk and HESs are significantly renormalized in the momentum space due to the substrate-related polaronic effects. The model we developed here clarifies which subtrates favor the HESs of quantum spin Hall system and which are not. Correspondingly, our work demonstrates that the substrate related polaronic effects have significant role on the emergence of HESs. In other words, we show that SO phonons due to substrates modify the electronic band topology of topological insulators together with the associated HESs and therefore they can be used to tune quantum phase transitions between topological insulators and non-topological ones.
It is shown that an Aharonov-Casher vector potential in a two-dimensional geometry can lead to helical edge states. The Aharonov-Casher vector potential is the electromagnetic dual of the magnetic vector potential, and leads to traveling states at the sample edge in analogy to the integer quantum Hall effect. The helical edge states are predicted to appear in a narrow channel geometry with parabolic or sufficiently symmetric confinement potential. The implications of the helical Aharonov-Casher edge states and experimental considerations in specific materials systems are discussed.
We consider the helical edge state of a Quantum Spin Hall insulator, connected between two leads, and irradiated by a monochromatic and circularly polarized electromagnetic wave. The photocurrent generated within the helical edge state is studied as function of the characteristics of the electromagnetic radiation and electronic doping of the edge state. We focus on the effect of the leads on the photocurrent. We also investigate the photoconductance of the helical edge state in presence of a voltage bias between the leads.
The presence of edges locally breaks the inversion symmetry of heterostructures and gives rise to lateral (edge) spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which, under some conditions, can lead to the formation of helical edge states. If the edge SOC is strong enough, the helical edge states can penetrate the band-gap and be energetically isolated from the bulk-like states. As a result backward scattering is suppressed, dissipationless helical edge channels protected against time-inversion symmetric perturbations emerge, and the system behaves as a 2D topological insulator (TI). However, unlike in previous w…
Comment on the paper by K. E. Nagaev, S. V. Remizov, D. S. Shapiro, Noise in the helical edge channel anisotropically coupled to a local spin, JETP Lett. 108, 664 (2018).
Topological electric quadrupole is a recently proposed concept that extends the theory of electric polarization of crystals to higher orders. Such a quadrupole phase supports topological states localized on both edges and corners. In this work, we show that in a quadrupole phase of honeycomb lattice, topological helical edge states and pseudo-spin-polarized corner states appear by making use of a pseudo-spin degree of freedom related to point group symmetry. Furthermore, we argue that a general condition for emergence of helical edge states in a (pseudo-)spinful quadrupole phase is mirror or t…
We propose and analyze the non-equilibrium finite frequency current-current correlations as a mean to characterize the helical nature of the edge states in a quantum spin hall geometry. We show that the finite frequency noise enables to unambiguously discriminate between the one-particle and the two-particles processes occurring in the helical liquid for both tunneling or weak-backscattering regimes.
This is the reply to the comment by I. S. Burmistrov, P. D. Kurilovich, and V. D. Kurilovich [arXiv:1903.047241] on our paper "Noise in the helical edge channel anisotropically coupled to a local spin" [JETP Lett. 108, 664 (2018), arXiv:1810.05831].
Quantum spin Hall insulators are characterized by topologically protected counterpropagating edge states. Here we study the dynamical response of these helical edge states under a time-dependent flux biasing, in the presence of a heat bath. It is shown that the relaxation time of the edge carriers can be determined from a measurement of the dissipative response of topological insulator disks. The effects of various perturbations, including Zeeman coupling and disorder, are also discussed.
We study the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida (RKKY) interaction mediated by helical edge states in quantum spin hall system. The helical edge states induce an in-plane noncollinear exchange coupling between two local spins, in contrast to the isotropic coupling induced in normal metal. The angle between the two local spins in the ground state depends on the Fermi level. This property may be used to control the angle of spins by tuning the electric gate.
We study electronic transport across a helical edge state exposed to a uniform magnetic ({$\vec B$}) field over a finite length. We show that this system exhibits Fabry-Pérot type resonances in electronic transport. The intrinsic spin anisotropy of the helical edge states allows us to tune these resonances by changing the direction of the {$\vec B$} field while keeping its magnitude constant. This is in sharp contrast to the case of non-helical one dimensional electron gases with a parabolic dispersion, where similar resonances do appear in individual spin channels ($\uparrow$ and $\downarrow$…
We experimentally investigate spin-polarized electron transport between a permalloy ferromagnet and the edge of a two-dimensional electron system with band inversion, realized in a narrow, 8~nm wide HgTe quantum well. In zero magnetic field, we observe strong asymmetry of the edge potential distribution with respect to the ferromagnetic ground lead. This result indicates, that the helical edge channel, specific for the structures with band inversion even at the conductive bulk, is strongly coupled to the ferromagnetic side contact, possibly due to the effects of proximity magnetization. It all…
The manipulation of the helical edge states of two-dimensional topological insulators is crucial for the development of technological applications. Recently, an important step forward, namely, the experimental realization of a quantum point contact between helical edges, has been accomplished. We theoretically predict that such a quantum point contact, in the presence of a time periodic applied electric field, is characterized by a topological quantum phase transition in the Floquet spectrum. Moreover, we show that it is possible to detect this dynamical topological quantum phase transition by…
We develop a theory of electron-photon interaction for helical edge channels in two-dimensional topological insulators based on zinc-blende-type quantum wells. It is shown that the lack of space inversion symmetry in such structures enables the electro-dipole optical transitions between the spin branches of the topological edge states. Further, we demonstrate the linear and circular dichroism associated with the edge states and the generation of edge photocurrents controlled by radiation polarization.
A single pair of helical edge states as realized at the boundary of a quantum spin Hall insulator is known to be robust against elastic single particle backscattering as long as time reversal symmetry is preserved. However, there is no symmetry preventing inelastic backscattering as brought about by phonons in the presence of Rashba spin orbit coupling. In this letter, we show that the quantized conductivity of a single channel of helical Dirac electrons is protected even against this inelastic mechanism to leading order. We further demonstrate that this result remains valid even when Coulomb …
We consider the effects of electron scattering off a quantum magnetic impurity on the current-voltage characteristics of the helical edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator. We compute the backscattering contribution to the current along the edge for a general form of the exchange interaction matrix and arbitrary value of the magnetic impurity spin. We find that the differential conductance is a non-monotonous function of the voltage with several extrema.
We study the effect of electron-phonon interactions on the electrical conductance of a helical edge state of a two-dimensional topological insulator. We show that the edge deformation caused by bulk acoustic phonons modifies the spin texture of the edge state, and that the resulting spin-phonon coupling leads to inelastic backscattering which makes the transport diffusive. Using a semiclassical Boltzmann equation we compute the electrical conductivity and show that it exhibits a metallic Bloch-Grüneisen law. At temperatures on the order of the Debye temperature of the host material, spin-phono…
We consider the proximity effect between a singlet s-wave superconductor and the edge of a Quantum Spin Hall (QSH) topological insulator. We establish that Andreev reflection at a QSH edge state/superconductor interface is perfect while nonlocal Andreev processes through the superconductor are totally suppressed. We compute the corresponding conductance and noise.
Among the most interesting predictions in two-dimensional materials with a Dirac cone is the existence of the zeroth Landau level (LL), equally filled by electrons and holes with opposite chirality. The gapless edge states with helical spin structure emerge from Zeeman splitting at the LL filling factor $ν=0$ gapped quantum Hall state. We present observations of a giant nonlocal four-terminal transport in zero-gap HgTe quantum wells at the $ν=0$ quantum Hall state. Our experiment clearly demonstrates the existence of the robust helical edge state in a system with single valley Dirac cone mater…
A quantum Hall edge state provides a rich foundation to study electrons in 1-dimension (1d) but is limited to chiral propagation along a single direction. Here, we demonstrate a versatile platform to realize new 1d systems made by combining quantum Hall edge states of opposite chiralities in a graphene electron-hole bilayer. Using this approach, we engineer helical 1d edge conductors where the counterpropagating modes are localized in separate electron and hole layers by a tunable electric field. These helical conductors exhibit strong nonlocal transport signals and suppressed backscattering d…
The interaction of a magnetic insulator with the helical electronic edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator has been shown to lead to many interesting phenomena. One of these is that for a suitable orientation of the magnetic anisotropy axis, the exchange coupling to an easy-plane magnet has no effect on DC electrical transport through a helical edge, despite the fact that it opens a gap in the spectrum of the helical edge [Meng {\em et al.}, Phys.\ Rev.\ B {\bf 90}, 205403 (2014)]. Here, we theoretically consider such a magnet embedded in an interferometer, consisting of a pair of hel…
We consider two helical liquids on opposite edges of a narrow two-dimensional topological insulator, which are connected by one or several local tunnel junctions. In the presence of spatially inhomogeneous Rashba spin-orbit coupling, the spin textures of the helical states on opposite edges are different. We demonstrate that this has a strong impact on the electron transport between the edges. In particular, in the case of many random tunnel contacts, the localization length depends strongly on the spin textures of the edge states.
The indirect exchange interaction between magnetic impurities located in the bulk of a two-dimensional topological insulator decays exponentially with the distance. The indirect exchange interaction for magnetic impurities mediated by the helical states at the edge of the topological insulator demonstrates behaviour which is typical for the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction in a one-dimensional metal. We have shown that interference between the bulk and edge states in the two-dimensional topological insulator results in existence of the unusual contribution to the indirect exchange int…
We present an experimental study of low temperature electronic transport in the hybridization gap of inverted InAs/GaSb composite quantum wells. Electrostatic gate is used to push the Fermi level into the gap regime, where the conductance as a function of sample length and width is measured. Our analysis shows strong evidence for the existence of helical edge modes proposed by Liu et al [Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 236601 (2008)]. Edge modes persist inspite of sizable bulk conduction and show only a weak magnetic field dependence - a direct consequence of gap opening away from zone center.
We report low-temperature transport measurements in strained InAs/Ga0.68In0.32Sb quantum wells, which supports time-reversal symmetry-protected helical edge states. The temperature and bias voltage dependence of the helical edge conductance for devices of various sizes are consistent with the theoretical expectation of a weakly interacting helical edge state. Moreover, we found that the magnetoresistance of the helical edge states is related to the edge interaction effect and the disorder strength.
We show that that the non-equilibrium spin polarization of one dimensional helical edge states at the boundary of a two dimensional topological insulator can dynamically induce a polarization of nuclei via the hyperfine interaction. When combined with a spatially inhomogeneous Rashba coupling, the steady state polarization of the nuclei produces backscattering between the topologically protected edge states leading to a reduction in the conductance which persists to zero temperature. We study these effects in both short and long edges, uncovering deviations from Ohmic transport at finite tempe…
The complex nature of filling factor $ν$=0 of monolayer graphene is studied in magnetotransport experiments. As function of perpendicular magnetic field a metal-insulator transition is observed, which is attributed to disorder-induced Landau level broadening in the canted antiferromagnetic phase. In the metallic regime a separation of the zeroth Landau level appears and signs of the quantum spin Hall effect are seen near $ν$=0. In addition to local transport, nonlocal transport experiments show results being consistent with helical edge transport.
Elastic backscattering of electrons moving along the helical edge is prohibited by time-reversal symmetry (TRS). We demonstrate, however, that an ensemble of magnetic impurities may cause TRS-preserving quasi-elastic backscattering, resulting in interference effects in the conductance. The characteristic energy transferred in a backscattering event is suppressed due to the RKKY interaction of localized spins (the suppression is exponential in the total number of magnetic impurities). We predict the statistics of conductance fluctuations to differ from those in the conventional case of a one-di…
The current through a helical edge state of a quantum-spin-Hall insulator may be fully transmitted through a magnetically gapped region due to a combination of spin-transfer torque and spin pumping [Meng {\em et al.}, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 90}, 205403 (2014)]. Using a scattering approach, we here argue that in such a system the current is effectively carried by electrons with energies below the magnet-induced gap and well below the Fermi energy. This has striking consequences, such as the absence of shot noise, an exponential suppression of thermal noise, and an obstruction of thermal transport. F…
Topological insulators (TI) are materials having an energy band gap in the bulk and conducting helical electronic states on the surface. The helical states are protected by time reversal symmetry thus are expected to be robust against static disorder scattering. In this work we report atomistic first principles analysis of disorder scattering in two-probe transport junctions made of three dimensional TI material Bi2Se3. The robustness of the device against disorder scattering is determined quantitatively. Examining many different scattering configurations, a general trend emerges on how strong…
Recent research on disorder effects in topological phases in quasicrystalline systems has received much attention. In this work, by numerically computing the (spin) Bott index and the thermal conductance, we reveal the effects of disorder on a class D chiral topological superconductor and a class DIII time-reversal-invariant topological superconductor in a two-dimensional Ammann-Beenker tiling quasicrystalline lattice. We demonstrate that both the topologically protected chiral and helical Majorana edge modes are robust against weak disorder in the quasicrystalline lattice. More fascinating is…
We study the effects of electron-hole asymmetry on the electronic structure of helical edge states in HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells. In the framework of the four-band kp-model, which takes into account the absence of a spatial inversion centre, we obtain analytical expressions for the energy spectrum and wave functions of edge states, as well as the effective g-factor tensor and matrix elements of electro-dipole optical transitions between the spin branches of the edge electrons. We show that when two conditions are simultaneously satisfied -- electron-hole asymmetry and the absence of an inversio…
The transversal propagation of the edge states in a two-dimensional quantum spin Hall system are classified by decay characteristic quantity $λ$. Two different modes of the helical edge states exhibit distinct behaviors. The penetration depth is momentum dependent in normal edge states. The finite size gap decays monotonously with sample width, leading to the normal size effect. In contrast, the penetration depth maintains a uniform minimal value in the special edge states with much shorter length. The finite size gap decays non-monotonously with width, leading to the anomalous finite size eff…
In this work, we study the disorder effect on topological metals that support a pair of helical edge modes deeply embedded inside the gapless bulk states. Strikingly, we predict that a quantum spin Hall (QSH) phase can be obtained from such topological metals without opening a global band gap. To be specific, disorder can lead to a pair of robust helical edge states which is protected by an emergent $Z_2$ topological invariant, giving rise to a quantized conductance plateau in transport measurements. These results are instructive for solving puzzles in {various transport experiments on QSH mat…
We study the spin texture of a generic helical liquid, the edge modes of a two-dimensional topological insulator with broken axial spin-symmetry. By considering honeycomb and square lattice realizations of topological insulators, we show that in all cases the generic behavior of a momentum-dependent rotation of the spin quantization axis is realized. Here we establish this mechanism also for disk geometries with continuous rotational symmetry. Finally, we demonstrate that the rotation of spin-quantization axis remains intact for arbitrary geometries, i.e. in the absence of any continuous symme…
We propose a single-particle source which emits into the helical edge states of a two-dimensional quantum spin Hall insulator. Without breaking time-reversal symmetry, this source acts like a pair of noiseless single-electron emitters which each inject separately into a chiral edge state. By locally breaking time-reversal symmetry, the source becomes a proper single-particle emitter which exhibits shot noise. Due to its intrinsic helicity, this system can be used to produce time-bin entangled pairs of electrons in a controlled manner. The shot noise created by the source is related to the conc…
Transport by helical edge states of a quantum spin Hall insulator is experimentally characterized by a weakly temperature-dependent mean free path of a few microns and by reproducible conductance oscillations, challenging proposed theoretical explanations. We consider a model where edge electrons experience spatially random Rashba spin-orbit coupling and couple to a magnetic impurity with spin S >= 1/2. In a finite bias steady state, we find for S > 1/2 an impurity induced resistance with a temperature dependence in agreement with experiments. Since backscattering is elastic, interference betw…
We measure microwave photocurrent in devices made from InAs/GaInSb bilayers where both insulating bulk state and conducting edge state were observed in the inverted-band regime, consistent with the theoretical prediction for a quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator. It has been theoretically proposed that microwave photocurrent could be a unique probe in studying the properties of QSH edge states. To distinguish possible photoresponse between bulk state and helical edge state, we prepare Hall bar and Corbino disk from the same wafer. Results show that the Corbino disk samples have a negligible phot…
We show that burying of the Dirac point in semiconductor-based quantum-spin-Hall systems can generate unexpected robustness of edge states to magnetic fields. A detailed ${\bf k\cdot p}$ band-structure analysis reveals that InAs/GaSb and HgTe/CdTe quantum wells exhibit such buried Dirac points. By simulating transport in a disordered system described within an effective model, we further demonstrate that buried Dirac points yield nearly quantized edge conduction out to large magnetic fields, consistent with recent experiments.
Helical edge modes of 2D topological insulators are supposed to be protected from time-reversal invariant elastic backscattering. Yet substantial deviations from the perfect conductance are typically observed experimentally down to very low temperatures. To resolve this conundrum we consider the effect of a single magnetic impurity with arbitrary spin on the helical edge transport. We consider the most general structure of the exchange interaction between the impurity and the edge electrons. Moreover, for the first time, we take into the account the local anisotropy for the impurity and show t…
We propose a framework to realize helical edge states in phononic systems using two identical lattices with interlayer couplings between them. A methodology is presented to systematically transform a quantum mechanical lattice which exhibits edge states to a phononic lattice, thereby developing a family of lattices with edge states. Parameter spaces with topological phase boundaries in the vicinity of the transformed system are illustrated to demonstrate the robustness to mechanical imperfections. A potential realization in terms of fundamental mechanical building blocks is presented for the h…
We report on the observation of a helical Luttinger-liquid in the edge of InAs/GaSb quantum spin Hall insulator, which shows characteristic suppression of conductance at low temperature and low bias voltage. Moreover, the conductance shows power-law behavior as a function of temperature and bias voltage. The results underscore the strong electron-electron interaction effect in transport of InAs/GaSb edge states. Because of the fact that the Fermi velocity of the edge modes is controlled by gates, the Luttinger parameter can be fine tuned. Realization of a tunable Luttinger-liquid offers a one-…
The quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect is the property of a new state of matter which preserves time-reversal, has an energy gap in the bulk, but has topologically robust gapless states at the edge. Recently, it has been shown that HgTe quantum wells realize this novel effect. In this work, we start from realistic tight-binding models and demonstrate the existence of the helical edge states in HgTe quantum wells and calculate their physical properties. We also show that 3d HgTe is a topological insulator under uniaxial strain, and show that the surface states are described by single-component mass…
This study investigates the topological behavior of a continuous elastic phononic structure characterized by a 3-term Kekulé distortion. The elastic waveguide consists of a hexagonal unit cell whose geometric dimensions are intentionally perturbed according to a generalized Kekulé scheme. The resulting structure exhibits an effective Hamiltonian that resembles a quantum spin Hall system, hence suggesting that the waveguide can support helical topological edge states. Using first-principles calculations, we show the existence of nondegenerate pseudospin states and a very peculiar 6-lobe pseudos…
We study bound states embedded into the continuum of edge states in two-dimensional topological insulators. These states emerge in the presence of a short-range potential of a structural defect coupled to the boundary. In this case the edge states flow around the defect and have two resonances in the local density of states. The bound state in continuum (BIC) arises due to an interference of the resonances when they are close to the degeneracy. We find the condition under which the BIC appears, study the spacial distribution of the electron density, and show that the BIC has a helical structur…
Topological insulators are promising for spintronics and related technologies due to their spin-momentum-locked edge states, which are protected by time-reversal symmetry. In addition to the unique fundamental physics that arises in these systems, the potential technological applications of these protected states has also been driving TI research over the past decade. However, most known topological insulator materials naturally contain spinful nuclei, and their hyperfine coupling to helical edge states intrinsically breaks time-reversal symmetry, removing the topological protection and enabli…
In conventional theories, topological band properties are intrinsic characteristics of the bulk material and do not depend on the choice of the reference frame. In this scenario, the principle of bulk-edge correspondence can be used to predict the existence of edge states between topologically distinct materials. In this study, we propose and carefully examine a 2D elastic phononic plate with a Kekulé-distorted honeycomb pattern engraved on it. It is found that the pseudospin and the pseudospin-dependent Chern numbers are not invariant properties, and the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ number is no longer a s…
Coulomb interaction has important consequences on the physics of quantum spin Hall edge states, weakening the topological protection via two-particle scattering and renormalizing both the velocity and charge of collective plasmon modes compared to that of free electrons. Despite these effects, interactions remain difficult to quantify. We propose here simple and robust edge resonator geometries to characterize Coulomb interaction by means of high-frequency measurements. They rely on a transmission line approach, and take advantage of the impedance mismatch between the edge states and their mic…
Non-local pairing processes at the edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator in proximity to an $s$-wave superconductor are usually suppressed by helicity. However, additional proximity of a ferromagnetic insulator can substantially influence the helical constraint and therefore open a new conduction channel by allowing for crossed Andreev reflection (CAR) processes. We show a one-to-one correspondence between CAR and the emergence of odd-frequency triplet superconductivity. Hence, non-local transport experiments that identify CAR in helical liquids yield smoking-gun evidence for unconve…
We investigate a Zeeman-split quantum dot (QD) containing a single spin 1/2 weakly coupled to a helical Luttinger liquid (HLL) within a generalized master equation approach. The HLL induces a tunable magnetization direction on the QD controlled by an applied bias voltage when the quantization axes of the QD and the HLL are noncollinear. The backscattering conductance (BSC) in the HLL is finite and shows a resonance feature when the bias voltage equals the Zeeman energy in magnitude. The observed BSC asymmetry in bias voltage directly reflects the quantization axis of the HLL spin.
We consider a Josephson junction hosting a Kramers pair of helical edge states of a quantum spin Hall bar in contact with a normal-metal probe. In this hybrid system, the orbital phase induced by a small magnetic field threading the junction known as Doppler shift (DS), combines with the conventional Josephson phase difference and originates an effect akin to a Zeeman field in the spectrum. As a consequence, when a temperature bias is applied to the superconducting terminals, a thermoelectric current is established in the normal probe. We argue that this purely non-local thermoelectric effect …
We propose a nonlocal manipulation method to build topological devices through emerging robust helical surface states in Z_2=0 topological systems. Specifically, in a ribbon of Z_2=0 Bernevig- Hughes-Zhang (BHZ) model with finite-size effect, if magnetic impurities are doped on the top (bottom) edge, the edge states on the bottom (top) edge can be altered according to the strengths and directions of these magnetic impurities. Consequently, the backscattering between the emerging robust helical edge states and gapped normal edge states due to finite-size confinement is also changed, which makes…
Although indications are that a single chiral quantum anomalous Hall(QAH) edge mode might have been experimentally detected. There have been very many recent experiments which conjecture that a single chiral QAH edge mode always materializes along with a pair of quasi-helical quantum spin Hall (QSH) edge modes. The reason for this seems to lie in the origin of QAH edge modes. These evolve from QSH edge modes via suppression of one of the spin edge modes by application of a ferromagnet or magnetic impurity. In this work we deal with a substantial 'What If ?' question- in case the QSH edge modes…
The recent experimental observations of the quantum Hall effect in 3D topological semimetals have attracted great attention, but there are still debates on its origin. We systematically study the dependence of the quantum Hall effect in topological semimetals on the thickness, Fermi energy, and growth direction, taking into account the contributions from the Fermi-arc surface states, confinement-induced bulk subbands, and helical side-surface edge states. In particular, we focus on the intensively studied Dirac semimetal Cd$_{3}$As$_{2}$ and its slabs grown along experimentally accessible dire…
An infinite edge of a quantum Hall system prohibits indirect exchange coupling between two spins whereas a quantum spin-Hall edge prohibits out-of-plane coupling. In this study we analyze an unexpected breakdown of this behaviors in a finite system, where the two spins can interact also via a longer path that traverses the whole perimeter of the system. We explain this using an analytical model as well as using tight binding models in real space. Based on this finding, we propose how using a lead far away from the spins can switch the coupling on and off among them non-locally.
A quantum magnetic impurity of spin $S$ at the edge of a two-dimensional time reversal invariant topological insulator may give rise to backscattering. We study here the shot noise associated with the backscattering current for arbitrary $S$. Our full analytical solution reveals that for $S>\frac{1}{2}$ the Fano factor may be arbitrarily large, reflecting bunching of large batches of electrons. By contrast, we rigorously prove that for $S=\frac{1}{2}$ the Fano factor is bounded between $1$ and $2$, generalizing earlier studies.
