Robustness of the helical edge states in topological insulators

Abstract

Topological insulators (TI) are materials having an energy band gap in the bulk and conducting helical electronic states on the surface. The helical states are protected by time reversal symmetry thus are expected to be robust against static disorder scattering. In this work we report atomistic first principles analysis of disorder scattering in two-probe transport junctions made of three dimensional TI material Bi2Se3. The robustness of the device against disorder scattering is determined quantitatively. Examining many different scattering configurations, a general trend emerges on how strong the perturbing potential and how it is spatially distributed that can derail the helical states on the Bi2Se3 surfaces.

arXiv comment5 pages, 3 figures

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• Spin Orbit Torque in two dimensional Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulators
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• Floquet engineering of topological phase transitions in quantum spin Hall $\alpha$-$T_3$ system
• Ab-initio transport across Bismuth Selenide surface barriers
• Suppression of Conductance in a Topological Insulator Nanostep Junction
• Topological phase in oxidized zigzag stanene nanoribbons
• Semimetal behavior of bilayer stanene