Aharonov-Bohm oscillations caused by non-topological surface states in Dirac nanowires

Abstract

One intriguing fingerprint of surface states in topological insulators is the Aharonov-Bohm effect in magnetoconductivity of nanowires. We show that surface states in nanowires of Dirac materials (bismuth, bismuth antimony, and lead tin chalcogenides) being in non-topological phase, exhibit the same effect as amendment to magnetoconductivity of the bulk states. We consider a simple model of a cylindrical nanowire, which is described by the 3D Dirac equation with a general $T$-invariant boundary condition. The boundary condition is determined by a single phenomenological parameter whose sign defines topological-like and non-topological surface states. The non-topological surface states emerge outside the gap. In longitudinal magnetic field $B$ they lead to Aharonov-Bohm amendment for the density of states and correspondingly for conductivity of the nanowire. The phase of these magnetooscillations increases with $B$ from $\pi$ to $2\pi$.

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• Quantum interference and Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in topological insulators
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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Quantum Confinement and Heavy Surface States of Dirac Fermions in Bismuth (111) Films: an Analytical Approach