Electrically Tunable Quantum Spin Hall State in Topological Crystalline Insulator Thin films

Abstract

Based on a combination of $k\cdot p$ theory, band topology analysis and electronic structure calculations, we predict the (111) thin films of the SnTe class of three-dimensional (3D) topological crystalline insulators realize the quantum spin Hall phase in a wide range of thickness. The nontrivial topology originates from the inter-surface coupling of the topological surface states of TCI in the 3D limit. The inter-surface coupling changes sign and gives rise to topological phase transitions as a function of film thickness. Furthermore, this coupling can be strongly affected by an external electric field, hence the quantum spin Hall phase can be effectively tuned under experimentally accessible the electric field. Our results show that (111) thin films of SnTe-class TCI can be an ideal platform to realize the novel applications of quantum spin Hall insulators.

Minor revision with updated references

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• Chromium-Induced Ferromagnetism with Perpendicular Anisotropy in Topological Crystalline Insulator SnTe (111) Thin Films
• Topological properties of multilayers and surface steps in the SnTe material class
• Dimensional crossover of transport characteristics in topological insulator nanofilms
• Corner states, hinge states and Majorana modes in SnTe nanowires
• Designing topology and fractionalization in narrow gap semiconductor films via electrostatic engineering
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• Observation of Weyl and Dirac fermions at smooth topological Volkov-Pankratov heterojunctions
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• Two-atom-thin topological crystalline insulators lacking out of plane inversion symmetry
• Superconductivity, valence-skipping and topological crystalline metal in AgSnSe${}_2$
• Quantum spin Hall effect in strained (111)-oriented SnSe layers
• Proximity-Induced Superconductivity in a Topological Crystalline Insulator