Crystalline topological states at a topological insulator junction

Abstract

We consider an interface between two strong time-reversal invariant topological insulators having surface states with opposite spin chirality, or equivalently, opposite mirror Chern number. We show that such an interface supports gapless modes that are protected by mirror symmetry. The interface states are investigated with a continuum model for the Bi2Se3 class of topological insulators that takes into account terms up to third order in the crystal momentum, which ensures that the model has the correct symmetry. The model parameters are obtained from ab initio calculations. Finally, we consider the effect of rotational mismatch at the interface, which breaks the mirror symmetry and opens a gap in the interface spectrum.

arXiv comment10 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (28)

• Topological Insulators
• Topological insulators and superconductors
• Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells
• $Z_2$ Topological Order and the Quantum Spin Hall Effect
• Quantum Spin Hall Insulator State in HgTe Quantum Wells
• Topological Insulators in Three Dimensions
• Topological Insulators with Inversion Symmetry
• Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface
• A topological Dirac insulator in a quantum spin Hall phase : Experimental observation of first strong topological insulator
• Topological Crystalline Insulators
• First observation of Spin-Momentum Helical Locking in Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3, demonstration of Topological-Order at 300K and a realization of topological-transport-regime
• Topological Insulator Materials
• Topological Crystalline Insulators in the SnTe Material Class
• Experimental realization of a topological crystalline insulator in SnTe
• Model Hamiltonian for Topological Insulators
• Surface States of the Topological Insulator Bi_{1-x}Sb_x
• Topological Crystalline Insulators and Topological Superconductors: From Concepts to Materials
• Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators
• Quantum Hall Effect from the Topological Surface States of Strained Bulk HgTe
• Effective continuous model for surface states and thin films of three dimensional topological insulators
• In-Plane Orbital Texture Switch at the Dirac Point in the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3
• Spin-orbital Texture in Topological Insulators
• Gapless interface states between topological insulators with opposite Dirac velocities
• Metacinnabar (β-HgS): a strong 3D topological insulator with highly anisotropic surface states
• Spin and Charge Structure of the Surface States in Topological Insulators
• Superluminal Tachyonlike Excitations of Dirac Fermions in a Topological Insulator Junction
• Gapless interface states at the junction between two topological insulators
• Robustness of Gapless Interface State in a Junction of Two Topological Insulators