Elastic scattering of surface states on three-dimensional topological insulators

Topological insulators as a new type of quantum matter materials are characterized by a full insulating gap in the bulk and gapless edge/surface states protected by the time-reversal symmetry. We propose that the interference patterns caused by the elastic scattering of defects or impurities are dominated by the surface states at the extremal points on the constant energy contour. Within such a formalism, we summarize our recent theoretical investigations on the elastic scattering of topological surface states by various imperfections, including non-magnetic impurities, magnetic impurities, step edges, and various other defects, in comparison with the recent related experiments in typical topological materials such as BiSb alloys, Bi2Te3, and Bi2Se3 crystals.     

Electron correlations in alloys of simple and transition metals

The effect of dynamical electron-electron correlations on the electronic structure of the paramagnetic disordered binary alloy of the transition and simple metals is studied for the Anderson model extended to arbitrary concentration of the transition metal impurities. We use the terminal-point approximation for the many-body quantities, which allows us to solve the random part of the problem within the single-site approximation. The many-body part of the problem is treated within the selfconsistent T-matrix approximation, valid for low, but finite concentration of particles ( ? 0.3/atom/spin). For low concentration of the transition metal impurities we obtain results identical with those for the Anderson model. The theory is illustrated numerically for a simple bandstructure model.     

Influence of impurities on the dynamics and synchronization of coupled map lattices

The influence of impurities and defects on the dynamics and synchronization of coupled map lattices (CML) is studied. In the context of CML we define impurities as sites in the lattice which have another local dynamics that from the whole lattice and defects as sites in the lattice without any dynamics. We show that synchronization and spatial intermittence are obtained as a function of the number of impurities present on a one-dimensional lattice. We also derive an analytical condition for a signal to “transpose” an impurity. For open flow models, we show that not only the presence of the impurity but also its position along the lattice and its local dynamics can be used to manipulate the lattice in order to obtain a regular or irregular motion. We also show how defects can be used to store information in a lattice.     

Crystal-glass phase transitions in the adatom layers

Phase transitions in the two-dimensional crystalline films adsorbed onto an imperfect substrate (with impurities and defects) are analyzed. It is shown that the phase transition from the commensurate long-range-order (LRO) crystal to the glass state occurs with increase of impurity concentration. The orientational correlation function is shown to tend algebraically to zero at large distances in the glass state. The influence of defects on the phase transition from the LRO-commensurate crystal to the disordered state at the definite temperature T_m is considered.     

外尔半金属及其输运特性

外尔半金属是继石墨烯以及拓扑绝缘体之后的又一个研究热点。相比于后两者,外尔半金 属独特的三维无能隙线性色散能带结构使得它有很多奇特的性质,如：手性反常、手性磁效应、 反弱局域化、手性朗道能级和负磁阻效应等。实际样品中无序总是不可避免的,所以考虑无序对 体系的影响是很有必要的。我们回顾了无序下第一类以及第二类外尔半金属的相变特性,并获得 了完整的相图,这些无序诱导的相变丰富了拓扑安德森绝缘体和安德森金属绝缘体相变的物理内 涵。我们同样回顾了长程短程无序影响下的第一类外尔半金属体系的输运,发现了一种不能采用 玻尔兹曼输运方程来描述的输运过程。我们介绍Imbert-Fedorov 位移这一光学中的效应在外尔 半金属中的实现,这为更好地应用外尔半金属提供了更多的可能性,随后采用波包散射,我们解 释了外尔半金属中的超高载流子迁移率问题的原因,最后我们给出一个简要的总结。     

Hedgehogs in a three-dimensional anisotropic spin system

We study a continuum version of a classical anisotropic spin model in three dimensions with three component spins. We prove the existence of topological defects, called hedgehogs, which are analogous to the vortices in the two-dimensionalxy-model and have a logarithmically divergent action. Bounds for the interaction energy of a hedgehog and an antihedgehog are derived.     

声子晶体中的多重拓扑相

研究了圆环型波导依照蜂窝结构排列的声子晶体系统中的拓扑相变.利用晶格结构的点群对称性实现赝自旋,并在圆环中引入旋转气流来打破时间反演对称性.通过紧束缚近似模型计算的解析结果表明,没有引入气流时,调节几何参数,系统存在普通绝缘体和量子自旋霍尔效应绝缘体两个相;引入气流后,可以实现新的时间反演对称性破缺的量子自旋霍尔效应相,而增大气流强度,则可以实现量子反常霍尔效应相.这三个拓扑相可以通过自旋陈数来分类.通过有限元软件模拟了多个系统中边界态的传播,发现不同于量子自旋霍尔效应相,量子反常霍尔相系统的表面只支持一种自旋的边界态,并且它无需时间反演对称性保护.     

A symmetry principle for topological quantum order

We present a unifying framework to study physical systems which exhibit topological quantum order (TQO). The major guiding principle behind our approach is that of symmetries and entanglement. These symmetries may be actual symmetries of the Hamiltonian characterizing the system, or emergent symmetries. To this end, we introduce the concept of low-dimensional Gauge-like symmetries (GLSs), and the physical conservation laws (including topological terms, fractionalization, and the absence of quasi-particle excitations) which emerge from them. We prove then sufficient conditions for TQO at both zero and finite temperatures. The physical engine for TQO are topological defects associated with the restoration of GLSs. These defects propagate freely through the system and enforce TQO. Our results are strongest for gapped systems with continuous GLSs. At zero temperature, selection rules associated with the GLSs enable us to systematically construct general states with TQO; these selection rules do not rely on the existence of a finite gap between the ground states to all other excited states. Indices associated with these symmetries correspond to different topological sectors. All currently known examples of TQO display GLSs. Other systems exhibiting such symmetries include Hamiltonians depicting orbital-dependent spin-exchange and Jahn-Teller effects in transition metal orbital compounds, short-range frustrated Klein spin models, and p+ip superconducting arrays. The symmetry based framework discussed herein allows us to go beyond standard topological field theories and systematically engineer new physical models with finite temperature TQO (both Abelian and non-Abelian). Furthermore, we analyze the insufficiency of entanglement entropy (we introduce SU(N) Klein models on small world networks to make the argument even sharper), spectral structures, maximal string correlators, and fractionalization in establishing TQO. We show that Kitaev’s Toric code model and Wen’s plaquette model are equivalent and reduce, by a duality mapping, to an Ising chain, demonstrating that despite the spectral gap in these systems the toric operator expectation values may vanish once thermal fluctuations are present. This illustrates the fact that the quantum states themselves in a particular (operator language) representation encode TQO and that the duality mappings, being non-local in the original representation, disentangle the order. We present a general algorithm for the construction of long-range string and brane orders in general systems with entangled ground states; this algorithm relies on general ground states selection rules and becomes of the broadest applicability in gapped systems in arbitrary dimensions. We exactly recast some known non-local string correlators in terms of local correlation functions. We discuss relations to problems in graph theory.     

Zero-energy states bound to a magnetic π-flux vortex in a two-dimensional topological insulator

We show that the existence of a pair of zero-energy modes bound to a vortex carrying a π-flux is a generic feature of the topologically non-trivial phase of the M–B model, which was introduced to describe the topological band insulator in HgTe quantum wells. We explicitly find the form of the zero-energy states of the corresponding Dirac equation, which contains a novel momentum-dependent mass term and describes a generic topological transition in a band insulator. The obtained modes are exponentially localized in the vortex-core, with the dependence of characteristic length on the parameters of the model matching the dependence extracted from a lattice version of the model. We consider in full generality the short-distance regularization of the vector potential of the vortex, and show that a particular choice yields the modes localized and simultaneously regular at the origin. Finally, we also discuss a realization of two-dimensional spin-charge separation through the vortex zero-modes.     

Transport properties of topological nodal-line semimetal candidate CaAs_3 under hydrostatic pressure

We report the transport properties of the CaAs_3 single crystal, which has been predicted to be a candidate for topological nodal-line semimetals. At ambient pressure, CaAs_3 exhibits semiconducting behavior with a small gap, while in some crystals containing tiny defects or impurities, a large "hump" in the resistivity is observed around 230 K. By applying hydrostatic pressure, the samples appear to a tendency towards metallic behavior, but not fully metallized up to 2 GPa.Further high pressure studies are needed to explore the topological characteristics for CaAs_3.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ab initio</Emphasis> studies of the energy characteristics and magnetic properties of point defects in GaAs

The formation energies of intrinsic point defects and solution energies of transition metal impurities in gallium arsenide are determined on the basis of ab initio calculations using the method of a locally self-consistent Green’s function, which is a generalization of the coherent potential approximation. Based on the calculated energies, the conclusion is made that the As_Ga antisite defect is the most common intrinsic defect in GaAs. Calculations showed that transition metal impurities, except for Ni, preferentially occupy gallium sites substitutionally. The magnetic moments of impurity atoms are calculated as a function of the chemical environment. It is shown that, in compensated GaAs, Mn atoms tend to form clusters.     

Geometric model of a fullerene molecule in the presence of Aharonov–Bohm flux

In this study, we describe a geometric model of a fullerene molecule with Ih symmetry. We combine the well known non-Abelian monopole approach and the geometric theory of defects, where every topological defect is associated with curvature and torsion, to describe a fullerene molecule. The geometric theory of defects in solids is used to consider the topological defects that allow this molecule to form and we apply a continuum formulation to describe this spherical geometry in the presence of an external Aharonov–Bohm flux. We solve a Dirac equation for this model and obtain the eigenvalues and eigenfunction of the Hamiltonian, and we obtain the persistent current for this model and show that it depends on the geometrical and topological properties of the fullerene.     

Measurement of an exceptionally weak electron-phonon coupling on the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

Gapless surface states on topological insulators are protected from elastic scattering on nonmagnetic impurities which makes them promising candidates for low-power electronic applications. However, for widespread applications, these states should have to remain coherent at ambient temperatures. Here, we studied temperature dependence of the electronic structure and the scattering rates on the surface of a model topological insulator, Bi2Se3, by high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We found an extremely weak broadening of the topological surface state with temperature and no anomalies in the state's dispersion, indicating exceptionally weak electron-phonon coupling. Our results demonstrate that the topological surface state is protected not only from elastic scattering on impurities, but also from scattering on low-energy phonons, suggesting that topological insulators could serve as a basis for room-temperature electronic devices.     

Photoemission spectroscopy of magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities on the surface of the Bi2Se3 topological insulator

Dirac-like surface states on surfaces of topological insulators have a chiral spin structure that suppresses backscattering and protects the coherence of these states in the presence of nonmagnetic scatterers. In contrast, magnetic scatterers should open the backscattering channel via the spin-flip processes and degrade the state's coherence. We present angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies of the electronic structure and the scattering rates upon the adsorption of various magnetic and nonmagnetic impurities on the surface of Bi2Se3, a model topological insulator. We reveal a remarkable insensitivity of the topological surface state to both nonmagnetic and magnetic impurities in the low impurity concentration regime. Scattering channels open up with the emergence of hexagonal warping in the high-doping regime, irrespective of the impurity's magnetic moment.     

Chemical memory erasure; a photochemical model

In this paper we propose an exactly solvable model of a topological insulator defined on a spin- \(\tfrac{1}{2}\) square decorated lattice. Itinerant fermions defined in the framework of the Haldane model interact via the Kitaev interaction with spin- \(\tfrac{1}{2}\) Kitaev sublattice. The presented model, whose ground state is a non-trivial topological phase, is solved exactly. We have found out that various phase transitions without gap closing at the topological phase transition point outline the separate states with different topological numbers. We provide a detailed analysis of the model’s ground-state phase diagram and demonstrate how quantum phase transitions between topological states arise. We have found that the states with both the same and different topological numbers are all separated by the quantum phase transition without gap closing. The transition between topological phases is accompanied by a rearrangement of the spin subsystem’s spectrum from band to flat-band states.     

Topological charge on the lattice: The O(3) case

We discuss the topological classification of the field configurations on the lattice. The regulator may act as a source of topological defects of the order of the lattice spacing we introduce a family of operators Q_L (block topological charge) that discriminates against instantons of sizes less than or equal to L. We prove that the correct charge implies first taking the limit a → 0 with L fixed and then L → 0. Numerical simulations à la Monte Carlo for O(3) in two dimensions are discussed. The observed density of small instantons agrees very well with theoretical calculations in the continuum theory.     

Topological defects with long-range interactions

We investigate a modified sine-Gordon equation which possesses soliton solutions with long-range interaction. We introduce a generalized version of the Ginzburg-Landau equation which supports long-range topological defects in D = 1 and D > 1. The interaction force between the defects decays so slowly that it is possible to enter the non-extensivity regime. These results can be applied to non-equilibrium systems, pattern formation and growth models.