Engineering three-dimensional topological insulators in Rashba-type spin-orbit coupled heterostructures

Abstract

Topological insulators represent a new class of quantum phase defined by invariant symmetries and spin-orbit coupling that guarantees metallic Dirac excitations at its surface. The discoveries of these states have sparked the hope of realizing nontrivial excitations and novel effects such as a magnetoelectric effect and topological Majorana excitations. Here we develop a theoretical formalism to show that a three dimensional topological insulator can be designed artificially via stacking bilayers of two-dimensional Fermi gases with opposite Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling on adjacent layers, and with inter-layer quantum tunneling. We demonstrate that in the stack of bilayers grown along a (001)-direction, a nontrivial topological phase transition occurs above a critical number of Rashba-bilayers. In the topological phase we find the formation of a single spin-polarized Dirac cone at the $\Gamma$-point. This approach offers an accessible way to design artificial topological insulators in a set up that takes full advantage of the atomic layer deposition approach. This design principle is tunable and also allows us to bypass limitations imposed by bulk crystal geometry.

(v2): Two design principles for our proposals are included. Accepted for publication in Nature Communications

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Cited by in corpus (29)

• Colloquium: Topological Band Theory
• Dirac materials
• Direct observation of spin-polarised bulk bands in an inversion-symmetric semiconductor
• New topological invariants in non-Hermitian systems
• Enhancement of bulk photovoltaic effect in topological insulators
• Search and design of nonmagnetic centrosymmetric layered crystals with large local spin polarization
• Spin-Orbit Logic with Magnetoelectric Nodes: A Scalable Charge Mediated Nonvolatile Spintronic Logic
• Weyl semimetals and superconductors designed in an orbital selective superlattice
• Cavity magnon-polaritons in cuprate parent compounds
• Giant switchable Rashba effect in oxide heterostructures
• Unconventional spin texture in a non-centrosymmetric quantum spin Hall insulator
• Unusual Dirac fermions on the surface of noncentrosymmetric $\alpha$ - BiPd superconductor
• Quantum spin Hall insulators in centrosymmetric thin films composed from topologically trivial BiTeI trilayers
• Anomalous shift and optical vorticity in the steady photovoltaic current
• Hidden Physical Effects in Non-centrosymmetric Crystals
• Symmetry-assisted protection and compensation of hidden spin polarization in centrosymmetric systems
• Induced Ferromagnetism at BiFeO3/YBa2Cu3O7 Interfaces
• Three-Dimensional Fractional Topological Insulators in Coupled Rashba Layers
• Dimensional evolution between one- and two-dimensional topological phases
• Spin texture in a bilayer high-temperature cuprate superconductor
• Energy spectra of two interacting fermions with spin-orbit coupling in a harmonic trap
• Microscopic model for the hidden Rashba effect in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{6+x}$
• Photo-induced SU(3) topological material of spinless fermions
• Quantum anomalous Hall effect with field-tunable Chern number near Z2 topological critical point
• Rigidity of topological invariants to symmetry breakings
• Artificial oxide heterostructures with non-trivial topology
• Intrinsic Mechanism for Magneto-Thermal Conductivity Oscillations in Spin-Orbit-Coupled Nodal Superconductors
• Layered Opposite Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling in Bilayer Graphene: Loss of Spin Chirality, Symmetry Breaking and Topological Transition
• Engineering stacking-induced topological phase transitions in bilayer heterostructures