Signatures of topology in ballistic bulk transport of HgTe quantum wells

P. Recher; E. G. Novik; R. W. Reinthaler; D. G. Rothe; E. M. Hankiewicz; B. Trauzettel

doi:10.1117/12.860146

24 August 2010 Signatures of topology in ballistic bulk transport of HgTe quantum wells

P. Recher, E. G. Novik, R. W. Reinthaler, D. G. Rothe, E. M. Hankiewicz, B. Trauzettel

Proceedings Volume 7760, Spintronics III; 776018 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.860146
Event: SPIE NanoScience + Engineering, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We calculate transport properties of HgTe quantum wells that exhibit the quantum spin Hall effect. We concentrate on the ballistic bulk contribution as a function of aspect ratio and Fermi energy. We show that the conductance and the shot noise are distinctively different for the so-called normal regime (the topologically trivial case) and the so-called inverted regime (the topologically non-trivial case). Thus, it is possible to verify the topological order of two-dimensional topological insulators such as HgTe quantum wells not only via observable edge properties but also via observable bulk properties. In addition, we show that the bulk contribution can even exceed the edge contribution for certain parameter regimes (and in all regimes for the case of the shot noise). We test the validity of our analytical approach against a tight-binding model that allows us to include random disorder numerically which is shown to have only a minor effect as long as its strength does not exceed the bulk gap.

Citation Download Citation

P. Recher, E. G. Novik, R. W. Reinthaler, D. G. Rothe, E. M. Hankiewicz, and B. Trauzettel "Signatures of topology in ballistic bulk transport of HgTe quantum wells", Proc. SPIE 7760, Spintronics III, 776018 (24 August 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.860146

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