Junction between surfaces of two topological insulators

Abstract

We study the properties of a line junction which separates the surfaces of two three-dimensional topological insulators. The velocities of the Dirac electrons on the two surfaces may be unequal and may even have opposite signs. For a time reversal invariant system, we show that the line junction is characterized by an arbitrary parameter αwhich determines the scattering from the junction. If the surface velocities have the same sign, we show that there can be edge states which propagate along the line junction with a velocity and orientation of the spin which depend on αand the ratio of the velocities. Next, we study what happens if the two surfaces are at an angle ϕwith respect to each other. We study the scattering and differential conductance through the line junction as functions of ϕand α. We also find that there are edge states which propagate along the line junction with a velocity and spin orientation which depend on ϕ. Finally, if the surface velocities have opposite signs, we find that the electrons must transmit into the two-dimensional interface separating the two topological insulators.

11 pages, 6 figures; corrected Eqs. 20 and 21 and Figs. 4 and 5; conclusions remain unchanged

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• Transport across a junction of topological insulators and a superconductor
• Magnetotransport signatures of three-dimensional topological insulator nanostructures
• Superluminal Tachyonlike Excitations of Dirac Fermions in a Topological Insulator Junction
• Suppression of Conductance in a Topological Insulator Nanostep Junction
• Non-Hermitian higher-Order Weyl semimetal with surface diabolic points
• Josephson effect in normal and ferromagnetic topological insulator planar, step and edge junctions
• Experimental search for one-dimensional edge states at surface steps of the topological insulator Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$: Distinguishing between effects and artifacts
• Finite transverse conductance in topological insulators under an applied in-plane magnetic field
• Gapless interface states at the junction between two topological insulators
• Confining electrons on a topological insulator surface using potentials and a magnetic field
• Connection topology of step edge state bands at the surface of a three dimensional topological insulator
• Robustness of Gapless Interface State in a Junction of Two Topological Insulators
• Scattering in quantum wires and junctions of quantum wires with edge states of quantum spin Hall insulators
• Conductance of gated junctions as a probe of topological interface states
• Transport and STM studies of hyperbolic surface states of topological insulators
• Bound states and controllable currents on Topological Insulator surfaces with extended magnetic defects
• Andreev spectroscopy of nonhelical spin textures in topological insulators
• Transport in a thin topological insulator with potential and magnetic barriers
• Electron dynamics in graphene with spin-orbit couplings and periodic potentials
• Numerical analysis of surface and edge states in slabs, stripes, rods and surface steps of topological insulators
• The Dirac paradox in 1+1 dimensions and its realization with spin-orbit coupled nanowires
• Photoinduced metallic Volkov-Pankratov states in semi-Dirac material
• Robust Majorana bound state in pseudo-spin domain wall of 2-D topological insulator
• Local density of state oscillations in laterally heterostructured topological insulator-semiconductor systems