Localized Andreev edge states in HgTe quantum wells

Abstract

We investigate the interplay of superconductivity and the topological order in the topological insulator (TI) formed in HgTe-CdTe quantum wells coupled to the s-wave isotropic superconductor (SC) placed on top of CdTe layer. Proximity effect induces superconducting correlations in TI effecting classification of the TI electronic states. Depending on the strength of the coupling and the initial chemical potentials in SC and TI, the edge states either (i) become gapped, or (ii) hybridize into localized Andreev states, or else (iii) merge with the bulk states turning the TI into an anisotropic narrow-gap semiconductor.

6 pages, 6 figures, Refs. added

References in corpus (9)

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• Proposal for the detection and braiding of Majorana fermions in a quantum spin Hall insulator
• Helical Andreev bound states and superconducting Klein tunneling in topological insulator Josephson junctions
• Suppression of surface p-wave superconductivity in disordered topological insulators
• Stabilizing topological superconductivity in disordered spin-orbit coupled semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures
• Disordered Quantum Transport in Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator-Superconductor Junctions