Non-magnetic defects in the bulk of two-dimensional topological insulators

Abstract

We found that non-magnetic defects in two-dimensional topological insulators induce bound states of two kinds for each spin orientation: electron- and hole-like states. Depending on the sign of the defect potential these states can be also of two kinds with different distribution of the electron density. The density has a maximum or minimum in the center. A surprising effect caused by the topological order is a singular dependence of the bound-state energy on the defect potential.

4 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Physica Status Solidi RRL

References in corpus (3)

• Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells
• Topological Defects and Gapless Modes in Insulators and Superconductors
• Z2 invariant protected bound states in topological insulators

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Helical bound states in the continuum of the edge states in two dimensional topological insulators
• Electronic states induced by nonmagnetic defects in two-dimensional topological insulators
• Conductance suppression by nonmagnetic point defects in helical edge channels of two-dimensional topological insulators
• Optical transitions in two-dimensional topological insulators with point defects