Wormhole effect in a strong topological insulator

Article

关键词: SINGLE DIRAC CONE;    SURFACE;    BI2TE3;   

DOI  :  10.1103/PhysRevB.82.041104

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

An infinitely thin solenoid carrying magnetic flux Phi (a Dirac string) inserted into an ordinary band insulator has no significant effect on the spectrum of electrons. In a strong topological insulator, remarkably, such a solenoid carries protected gapless one-dimensional fermionic modes when Phi = hc/2e. These modes are spin-filtered and represent a distinct bulk manifestation of the topologically nontrivial insulator. We establish this wormhole effect by both general qualitative considerations and by numerical calculations within a minimal lattice model. We also discuss the possibility of experimental observation of a closely related effect in artificially engineered nanostructures.

【 授权许可】

Free