Controlling edge states in the Kane-Mele model via edge chirality

Abstract

We investigate the dependence of band dispersion of the quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE) edge states in the Kane-Mele model on crystallographic orientation of the edges. Band structures of the one-dimensional honeycomb lattice ribbons show the presence of the QSHE edge states at all orientations of the edges given sufficiently strong spin-orbit interactions. We find that the Fermi velocities of the QSHE edge-state bands increase monotonically when the edge orientation changes from zigzag (chirality angle $\theta =0^{\circ }$) to armchair ($\theta =30^{\circ }$). We propose a simple analytical model to explain the numerical results.

arXiv commentto appear in Phys. Status Solidi RRL, Focus Issue on Topological Insulators

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Correlation effects in two-dimensional topological insulators
• The fundamental differences between Quantum Spin Hall edge-states at zig-zag and armchair terminations of honeycomb and ruby nets
• Engineering Quantum Spin Hall Effect in Graphene Nanoribbons via Edge Functionalization