Realizing attractive interacting topological surface fermions: A resonating TI- thin film hybrid platform

Abstract

In this article, we propose a practical way to realize topological surface Dirac fermions with tunable attractive interaction between them. The approach involves coating the surface of a topological insulator with a thin film metal and utilizing the strong-electron phonon coupling in the metal to induce interaction between the surface fermions. We found that for a given TI and thin film, the attractive interaction between the surface fermions can be maximally enhanced when the Dirac point of the TI surface resonates with one of the quasi-2D quantum-well bands of the thin film. This effect can be considered to be an example of 'quantum-well resonance'. We also demonstrate that the superconductivity of the resonating surface fermions can be further enhanced by choosing a strongly interacting thin film metal or by tuning the spin-orbit coupling of the TI. This TI-thin film hybrid configuration holds promise for applications in Majorana-based quantum computations and for the study of quantum critical physics of strongly attractively interacting surface topological matter with emergent supersymmetry.

arXiv comment28 pages, 16 figures

References in corpus (30)

• 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
• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• Topological Insulators in Three Dimensions
• Paired states of fermions in two dimensions with breaking of parity and time-reversal symmetries, and the fractional quantum Hall effect
• New directions in the pursuit of Majorana fermions in solid state systems
• Topological invariants of time-reversal-invariant band structures
• Quantum Spin Hall Effect
• Search for Majorana fermions in superconductors
• Topological superconductors: a review
• Majorana Fermions and Topology in Superconductors
• Emergent Space-time Supersymmetry at the Boundary of a Topological Phase
• Emergence of supersymmetry at a critical point of a lattice model
• Emergence of supersymmetry on the surface of three dimensional topological insulators
• Emergence of supersymmetric quantum electrodynamics
• Conversion of a conventional superconductor into a topological superconductor by topological proximity effect
• Superconductivity of disordered Dirac fermions
• Superconductivity on the surface of topological insulators and in two-dimensional noncentrosymmetric materials
• Observation of Emergent Spacetime Supersymmetry at Superconducting Quantum Criticality
• Amperean Pairing at the Surface of Topological Insulators
• Edge quantum criticality and emergent supersymmetry in topological phases
• Induced spin texture in semiconductor/topological insulator heterostructures
• Magnon-mediated superconductivity on the surface of a topological insulator
• Magnon-induced superconductivity in a topological insulator coupled to ferro- and antiferromagnetic insulators
• Role of confined phonons in thin film superconductivity
• Stability of Unconventional Superconductivity on Surfaces of Topological Insulators
• Inverse proximity effect in $s$-wave and $d$-wave superconductors coupled to topological insulators
• Hybridization mechanism of the dual proximity effect in superconductor-topological insulator interfaces