Mott scattering at the interface between a metal and a topological insulator

Abstract

We compute the spin-active scattering matrix and the local spectrum at the interface between a metal and a three-dimensional topological band insulator. We show that there exists a critical incident angle at which complete (100%) spin flip reflection occurs and the spin rotation angle jumps by $\pi$. We discuss the origin of this phenomena, and systematically study the dependence of spin-flip and spin-conserving scattering amplitudes on the interface transparency and metal Fermi surface parameters. The interface spectrum contains a well-defined Dirac cone in the tunneling limit, and smoothly evolves into a continuum of metal induced gap states for good contacts. We also investigate the complex band structure of Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$.

published version

References in corpus (13)

• Topological Insulators
• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• Topological Insulators in Three Dimensions
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• Topological invariants of time-reversal-invariant band structures
• First observation of Spin-Momentum Helical Locking in Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3, demonstration of Topological-Order at 300K and a realization of topological-transport-regime
• The quantum spin Hall effect and topological insulators
• Three dimensional topological invariants for time reversal invariant Hamiltonians and the three dimensional quantum spin Hall effect
• Spin and Charge Transport on the Surface of a Topological Insulator
• Proximity effect at the superconductor - topological insulator interface
• Interface electronic states and boundary conditions for envelope functions

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Proximity band structure and spin textures on both sides of topological-insulator/ferromagnetic-metal interface and their transport probes
• Spin-transfer torque and spin-polarization in topological-insulator/ferromagnet vertical heterostructures
• Spintronics and spincaloritronics in topological insulators
• Current-phase relation for Josephson effect through helical metal
• Surface state reconstruction in ion-damaged SmB_6
• Spin-to-charge conversion in lateral and vertical topological-insulator/ferromagnet heterostructures with microwave-driven precessing magnetization
• Microscopic simulation of superconductor-topological insulator proximity structures
• Induced spin texture in semiconductor/topological insulator heterostructures
• Spin diffusion and magnetoresistance in ferromagnet/topological-insulator junctions
• Confinement and Fermion Doubling Problem in Dirac-like Hamiltonians
• Proximity-Induced Superconductivity at Non-Helical Topological Insulator Interfaces
• Andreev spectroscopy of nonhelical spin textures in topological insulators
• Quasi-particle propagation across semiconductor-Mott insulator interfaces
• Weyl nodes in periodic structures of superconductors and spin active materials