Edge absorption and circular photogalvanic effect in 2D topological insulator edges

The electron absorption on the edge states and the edge photocurrent of a 2D topological insulator (TI) are studied. We consider the optical transitions within linear edge branches of the energy spectrum. The interaction with impurities is taken into account. The circular polarization is found to produce the edge photocurrent, the direction of which is determined by light polarization and edge orientation.     

Switching spin and charge between edge states in topological insulator constrictions

We show how the coupling between opposite edge states, which overlap in a constriction made of the topological insulator mercury telluride (HgTe), can be employed both for steering the charge flow into different edge modes and for controlled spin switching. Unlike in a conventional spin transistor, the switching does not rely on a tunable Rashba spin-orbit interaction, but on the energy dependence of the edge state wave functions. Based on this mechanism, and supported by extensive numerical transport calculations, we present two different ways to control spin and charge currents, depending on the local gating of the constriction, resulting in a high fidelity spin transistor.     

Spin-filtered edge states in graphene

Spin–orbit coupling changes graphene, in principle, into a two-dimensional topological insulator, also known as quantum spin Hall insulator. One of the expected consequences is the existence of spin-filtered edge states that carry dissipationless spin currents and undergo no backscattering in the presence of non-magnetic disorder, leading to quantization of conductance. Whereas, due to the small size of spin–orbit coupling in graphene, the experimental observation of these remarkable predictions is unlikely, the theoretical understanding of these spin-filtered states is shedding light on the electronic properties of edge states in other two-dimensional quantum spin Hall insulators. Here we review the effect of a variety of perturbations, like curvature, disorder, edge reconstruction, edge crystallographic orientation, and Coulomb interactions on the electronic properties of these spin filtered states.     

Phase diagram for a Bose-Einstein condensate moving in an optical lattice

The stability of superfluid currents in a system of ultracold bosons was studied using a moving optical lattice. Superfluid currents in a very weak lattice become unstable when their momentum exceeds 0.5 recoil momentum. Superfluidity vanishes already for zero momentum as the lattice deep reaches the Mott insulator (MI) phase transition. We study the phase diagram for the disappearance of superfluidity as a function of momentum and lattice depth between these two limits. Our phase boundary extrapolates to the critical lattice depth for the superfluid-to-MI transition with 2% precision. When a one-dimensional gas was loaded into a moving optical lattice a sudden broadening of the transition between stable and unstable phases was observed.     

Persistence of Spin Edge Currents in Disordered Quantum Spin Hall Systems

For a disordered two-dimensional model of a topological insulator (such as a Kane-Mele model with disordered potential) with small coupling of spin invariance and time-reversal symmetry breaking terms (such as a Rashba spin-orbit coupling and a Zeeman term), it is proved that the spin edge currents persist provided there is a spectral gap and the spin Chern numbers are well-defined and non-trivial. These are sufficient conditions for being in the quantum spin Hall phase. The result materializes the general philosophy that topological insulators are topologically non-trivial bulk systems with persistent edge or surface currents.     

Superfluid-insulator transition in a moving system of interacting bosons

We analyze the stability of superfluid currents in a system of strongly interacting ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. We show that such a system undergoes a dynamic, irreversible phase transition at a critical phase gradient that depends on the interaction strength between atoms. At commensurate filling, the phase boundary continuously interpolates between the classical modulation instability of a weakly interacting condensate and the equilibrium quantum phase transition into a Mott insulator state at which the critical current vanishes. We argue that quantum fluctuations smear the transition boundary in low dimensional systems. Finally we discuss the implications to realistic experiments.     

Ultrafast optical excitation of a persistent surface-state population in the topological insulator Bi2Se3

Using femtosecond time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we investigated the nonequilibrium dynamics of the topological insulator Bi2Se3. We studied p-type Bi2Se3, in which the metallic Dirac surface state and bulk conduction bands are unoccupied. Optical excitation leads to a metastable population at the bulk conduction band edge, which feeds a nonequilibrium population of the surface state persisting for >10 ps. This unusually long-lived population of a metallic Dirac surface state with spin texture may present a channel in which to drive transient spin-polarized currents.     

Persistent currents in a graphene ring with armchair edges

A graphene nanoribbon with armchair edges is known to have no edge state. However, if the nanoribbon is in the quantum spin Hall state, then there must be helical edge states. By folding a graphene ribbon into a ring and threading it by a magnetic flux, we study the persistent charge and spin currents in the tight-binding limit. It is found that, for a broad ribbon, the edge spin current approaches a finite value independent of the radius of the ring. For a narrow ribbon, inter-edge coupling between the edge states could open the Dirac gap and reduce the overall persistent currents. Furthermore, by enhancing the Rashba coupling, we find that the persistent spin current gradually reduces to zero at a critical value beyond which the graphene is no longer a quantum spin Hall insulator.     

Ultrafast optical nonlinearity in the quasi-one-dimensional mott insulator Sr2CuO3

We report strong instantaneous photoinduced absorption in the quasi-one-dimensional Mott insulator Sr2CuO3 in the IR spectral region. The observed photoinduced absorption is to an even-parity two-photon state that occurs immediately above the absorption edge. Theoretical calculation based on a two-band extended Hubbard model explains the experimental features and indicates that the strong two-photon absorption is due to a very large dipole coupling between nearly degenerate one- and two-photon states. Room temperature picosecond recovery of the optical transparency suggests the strong potential of Sr2CuO3 for all-optical switching.     

Weyl semimetal in a topological insulator multilayer

We propose a simple realization of the three-dimensional (3D) Weyl semimetal phase, utilizing a multilayer structure, composed of identical thin films of a magnetically doped 3D topological insulator, separated by ordinary-insulator spacer layers. We show that the phase diagram of this system contains a Weyl semimetal phase of the simplest possible kind, with only two Dirac nodes of opposite chirality, separated in momentum space, in its band structure. This Weyl semimetal has a finite anomalous Hall conductivity and chiral edge states and occurs as an intermediate phase between an ordinary insulator and a 3D quantum anomalous Hall insulator. We find that the Weyl semimetal has a nonzero dc conductivity at zero temperature, but Drude weight vanishing as T(2), and is thus an unusual metallic phase, characterized by a finite anomalous Hall conductivity and topologically protected edge states.     

Quench dynamics of edge states in 2-D topological insulator ribbons

We study the dynamics of edge states of the two dimensional BHZ Hamiltonian in a ribbon geometry following a sudden quench to the quantum critical point separating the topological insulator phase from the trivial insulator phase. The effective edge state Hamiltonian is a collection of decoupled qubit-like two-level systems which get coupled to bulk states following the quench. We notice a pronounced collapse and revival of the Lochschmidt echo for low-energy edge states illustrating the oscillation of the state between the two edges. We also observe a similar collapse and revival in the spin Hall current carried by these edge states, leading to a persistence of its time-averaged value.     

Current correlations in quantum spin Hall insulators

We consider a four-terminal setup of a two-dimensional topological insulator (quantum spin Hall insulator) with local tunneling between the upper and lower edges. The edge modes are modeled as helical Luttinger liquids and the electron-electron interactions are taken into account exactly. Using perturbation theory in the tunneling, we derive the cumulant generating function for the interedge current. We show that different possible transport channels give rise to different signatures in the current noise and current cross correlations, which could be exploited in experiments to elucidate the interplay between electron-electron interactions and the helical nature of the edge states.     

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.     

Creation of a molecular condensate by dynamically melting a Mott insulator

We propose the creation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate by loading an atomic condensate into an optical lattice and driving it into a Mott insulator with exactly two atoms per site. Molecules in a Mott insulator state are then created under well defined conditions by photoassociation with essentially unit efficiency. Finally, the Mott insulator is melted and a superfluid state of the molecules is created. We study the dynamics of this process and photoassociation of tightly trapped atoms.     

Optical properties of layered superconductor LixZrNCl

We investigated band-insulator-to-superconductor transition in Li_xZrNCl driven by carrier doping by means of magnetization, resistivity, and optical reflectivity measurements. The magnetization and the resistivity measurements showed that the transition occurs at around x=0.05. The pristine β-ZrNCl exhibited reflectivity and optical conductivity spectra typical of an insulator, whereas in the spectrum of Li_0.37ZrNCl, Drude-like high reflectance band and associated plasma edge are apparently observed. This is the direct spectroscopic evidence of insulator-to-metal transition of Li_xZrNCl.     

An Anderson Impurity Interacting with the Helical Edge States in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator

Using the natural orbitals renormalization group(NORG)method,we investigate the screening of the local spin of an Anderson impurity interacting with the helical edge states in a quantum spin Hall insulator.It is found that there is a local spin formed at the impurity site and the local spin is completel.y screened by electrons in the quantum spin Hall insulator.Meanwhile,the local spin is screened dominantly by a single active natural orbital.We then show that the Kondo screening mechanism becomes transparent and simple in the framework of the natural orbitals formalism.We project the active natural orbital respectively into real space and momentum space to characterize its structure.We conilrm the spin-momentum locking property of the edge states based on the occupancy of a Bloch state on the edge to which the impurity couples.Furthermore,we study the dynamical property of the active natural orbital represented by the local density of states,from which we observe the Kondo resonance peak.     

高压下BaHfO3电子结构与光学性质的第一性原理研究

从第一性原理出发,在局域密度近似下,采用基于密度泛函理论的平面波超软赝势计算方法系统地研究了高压对BaHfO3电子结构与光学性质的影响．能带结构分析表明：无压强和施加正压强作用时,BaHfO3为直接带隙绝缘体,而施加负压强时,BaHfO3则转变为间接带隙半导体;BaHfO3的带隙随压强增加而减小,且具有明显的非线性关系．对光学性质的分析发现：施加正压强后,光学吸收带边产生蓝移;负压强作用时介电函数虚部尖峰减少,光学吸收带边产生红移;施加压强后BaHfO3的静态介电常数和静态折射率均增大．上述研究表明施加高压有效调制了BaHfO3的电子结构和光学性质,计算结果为BaHfO3光电材料的设计与应用提供了理论依据．     

高压下BaHfO3电子结构与光学性质的第一性原理研究

从第一性原理出发,在局域密度近似下,采用基于密度泛函理论的平面波超软赝势计算方法系统地研究了高压对BaHfO₃电子结构与光学性质的影响.能带结构分析表明;无压强和施加正压强作用时,BaHfO₃为直接带隙绝缘体,而施加负压强时,BaHfO₃则转变为间接带隙半导体;BaHfO₃的带隙随压强增加而减小,且具有明显的非线性关系.对光学性质的分析发现:施加正压强后,光学吸收带边产生蓝移;负压强作用时介电函数虚部尖峰减少,光学吸收带边产生红移;施加压强后BaHfO₃的静态介电常数和静态折射率均增大.上述研究表明施加高压有效调制了BaHfO₃的电子结构和光学性质,计算结果为BaHfO₃光电材料的设计与应用提供了理论依据.     

Ultrashort optical pulse in a thin film of a topological insulator

We consider the propagation of ultrashort optical pulses in a thin film of a topological insulator within the framework of an effective long-wave Hamiltonian for low-temperature media. The electromagnetic field is taken as classical Maxwellian. We reveal the dependence on the maximum amplitude of ultrashort optical pulses.