Protection of the surface states in topological insulators: Berry phase perspective

Abstract

The metallic surface state of a topological insulator (TI) is not only topologically protected, but exhibits a remarkable property of inducing an effective vector potential on curved surfaces. For an electron in the surface state of a spherical or a cylindrical TI (TI nanoparticle or nanowire) a pseudo-magnetic monopole or a fictitious solenoid is effectively induced, encoding the geometry of the system. Here, by taking an example of a hyperbolic surface we demonstrate that as a consequence of this property stemming from its active spin degree of freedom, the surface state is by itself topologically protected.

4+ pages, 3 figures

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• Transport and STM studies of hyperbolic surface states of topological insulators
• Engineering Dirac electrons emergent on the surface of a topological insulator