Unexpected edge conduction in mercury telluride quantum wells under broken time-reversal symmetry

Ma, Eric Yue; Calvo, M. Reyes; Wang, Jing; Lian, Biao; Muhlbauer, Mathias; Brune, Christoph; Cui, Yong -Tao; Lai, Keji; Kundhikanjana, Worasom; Yang, Yongliang; Baenninger, Matthias; Konig, Markus; Ames, Christopher; Buhmann, Hartmut; Leubner, Philipp; Molenkamp, Laurens W.; Zhang, Shou -Cheng; Goldhaber-Gordon, David; Kelly, Michael A.; Shen, Zhi -Xun

doi:10.1038/ncomms8252

Title: Unexpected edge conduction in mercury telluride quantum wells under broken time-reversal symmetry

Journal Article · Tue May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8252· OSTI ID:1260964

Ma, Eric Yue ^[1]; Calvo, M. Reyes ^[1];

^[1]; Lian, Biao ^[1]; Muhlbauer, Mathias ^[2]; Brune, Christoph ^[3]; Cui, Yong -Tao ^[1]; Lai, Keji ^[4]; Kundhikanjana, Worasom ^[1]; Yang, Yongliang ^[1]; Baenninger, Matthias ^[1]; Konig, Markus ^[1]; Ames, Christopher ^[3]; Buhmann, Hartmut ^[3]; Leubner, Philipp ^[3]; Molenkamp, Laurens W. ^[3]; Zhang, Shou -Cheng ^[1]; Goldhaber-Gordon, David ^[1]; Kelly, Michael A. ^[1]; Shen, Zhi -Xun ^[1]

Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Univ. Wurzburg, Wurzburg (Germany)
Univ. Wurzburg, Wurzburg (Germany)
Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

The realization of quantum spin Hall effect in HgTe quantum wells is considered a milestone in the discovery of topological insulators. Quantum spin Hall states are predicted to allow current flow at the edges of an insulating bulk, as demonstrated in various experiments. A key prediction yet to be experimentally verified is the breakdown of the edge conduction under broken time-reversal symmetry. Here we first establish a systematic framework for the magnetic field dependence of electrostatically gated quantum spin Hall devices. We then study edge conduction of an inverted quantum well device under broken time-reversal symmetry using microwave impedance microscopy, and compare our findings to a non-inverted device. At zero magnetic field, only the inverted device shows clear edge conduction in its local conductivity profile, consistent with theory. Surprisingly, the edge conduction persists up to 9 T with little change. Finally, this indicates physics beyond simple quantum spin Hall model, including material-specific properties and possibly many-body effects.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; PHY-0830228; DMR1305731; FP7-PEOPLE-2010-274769

OSTI ID:: 1260964

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 6; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 65 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (37)

$Z_{2}$ Topological Order and the Quantum Spin Hall Effect Kane, C. L.; Mele, E. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 14, Article No. 146802 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.146802	journal	September 2005
Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells Bernevig, B. A.; Hughes, T. L.; Zhang, S.-C. Science, Vol. 314, Issue 5806, p. 1757-1761 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1133734	journal	December 2006
Quantum Spin Hall Insulator State in HgTe Quantum Wells Konig, M.; Wiedmann, S.; Brune, C. Science, Vol. 318, Issue 5851, p. 766-770 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1148047	journal	November 2007
Nonlocal Transport in the Quantum Spin Hall State Roth, A.; Brune, C.; Buhmann, H. Science, Vol. 325, Issue 5938 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1174736	journal	July 2009
Evidence for the ballistic intrinsic spin Hall effect in HgTe nanostructures Brüne, C.; Roth, A.; Novik, E. G. Nature Physics, Vol. 6, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1655	journal	May 2010
Spin polarization of the quantum spin Hall edge states Brüne, Christoph; Roth, Andreas; Buhmann, Hartmut Nature Physics, Vol. 8, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2322	journal	May 2012
Induced superconductivity in the quantum spin Hall edge Hart, Sean; Ren, Hechen; Wagner, Timo Nature Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3036	journal	August 2014
Imaging currents in HgTe quantum wells in the quantum spin Hall regime Nowack, Katja C.; Spanton, Eric M.; Baenninger, Matthias Nature Materials, Vol. 12, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3682	journal	June 2013
Colloquium: Topological insulators Hasan, M. Z.; Kane, C. L. Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 82, Issue 4, p. 3045-3067 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.82.3045	journal	November 2010
Topological insulators and superconductors Qi, Xiao-Liang; Zhang, Shou-Cheng Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.83.1057	journal	October 2011
Fine structure of zero-mode Landau levels in HgTe/Hg $_{x}$ Cd $_{1 - x}$ Te quantum wells Orlita, M.; Masztalerz, K.; Faugeras, C. Physical Review B, Vol. 83, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.115307	journal	March 2011
Magnetospectroscopy of two-dimensional HgTe-based topological insulators around the critical thickness Zholudev, M.; Teppe, F.; Orlita, M. Physical Review B, Vol. 86, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.205420	journal	November 2012
Mesoscopic Percolating Resistance Network in a Strained Manganite Thin Film Lai, K.; Nakamura, M.; Kundhikanjana, W. Science, Vol. 329, Issue 5988 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1189925	journal	July 2010
Cryogenic microwave imaging of metal–insulator transition in doped silicon Kundhikanjana, Worasom; Lai, Keji; Kelly, Michael A. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 82, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3554438	journal	March 2011
Imaging of Coulomb-Driven Quantum Hall Edge States Lai, Keji; Kundhikanjana, Worasom; Kelly, Michael A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.176809	journal	October 2011
Finite Size Effects on Helical Edge States in a Quantum Spin-Hall System Zhou, Bin; Lu, Hai-Zhou; Chu, Rui-Lin Physical Review Letters, Vol. 101, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.246807	journal	December 2008
The Quantum Spin Hall Effect: Theory and Experiment König, Markus; Buhmann, Hartmut; W. Molenkamp, Laurens Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, Vol. 77, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1143/JPSJ.77.031007	journal	March 2008
Magnetic properties of HgTe quantum wells Scharf, Benedikt; Matos-Abiague, Alex; Fabian, Jaroslav Physical Review B, Vol. 86, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.075418	journal	August 2012
Quantum Hall transport as a probe of capacitance profile at graphene edges Vera-Marun, I. J.; Zomer, P. J.; Veligura, A. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4773589	journal	January 2013
Band gap variation and lattice, surface, and interface ‘‘instabilities’’ in Hg _{1− x} Cd _x Te and related compounds Spicer, W. E.; Silberman, J. A.; Lindau, I. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 1, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.572206	journal	July 1983
Surface-enhanced alloy effects in ${Hg}_{1 - x}$ ${Cd}_{x}$ Te: (100) surface states and the site-dependent coherent-potential approximation Bryant, Garnett W. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 55, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.55.1786	journal	October 1985
Role of Spin in Quasiparticle Interference Pascual, J. I.; Bihlmayer, G.; Koroteev, Yu. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 19, Article No. 196802 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.196802	journal	November 2004
Kondo Effect in the Helical Edge Liquid of the Quantum Spin Hall State Maciejko, Joseph; Liu, Chaoxing; Oreg, Yuval Physical Review Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.256803	journal	June 2009
Effects of Interaction on Quantum Spin Hall Insulators Lee, Dung-Hai Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.166806	journal	October 2011
Interplay of Exciton Condensation and the Quantum Spin Hall Effect in $InAs / GaSb$ Bilayers Pikulin, D. I.; Hyart, T. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.176403	journal	April 2014
Robust Helical Edge Transport in Gated $InAs / GaSb$ Bilayers Du, Lingjie; Knez, Ivan; Sullivan, Gerard Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.096802	journal	March 2015
Bulk vacancies in Cd _x Hg _{1− x} Te Swarts, C. A.; Daw, M. S.; McGill, T. C. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, Vol. 21, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.571712	journal	May 1982
Effects of cation vacancies and diffusion on the surface states of ${Hg}_{1 - x}$ ${Cd}_{x}$ Te Bryant, Garnett W. Physical Review B, Vol. 36, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.36.6465	journal	October 1987
Surface-enhanced alloy effects on ${Hg}_{1 - x}$ ${Cd}_{x}$ Te(100) surface states and the site-dependent coherent-potential approximation Bryant, Garnett W. Physical Review B, Vol. 35, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.35.5547	journal	April 1987
Magnetic properties of HgTe quantum wells Scharf, Benedikt; Matos-Abiague, Alex; Fabian, Jaroslav Universität Regensburg https://doi.org/10.5283/epub.25620	text	January 2012
Kondo effect in the helical edge liquid of the quantum spin Hall state Maciejko, Joseph; Liu, Chaoxing; Oreg, Yuval arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.0901.1685	text	January 2009
Imaging of the Coulomb driven quantum Hall edge states Lai, Keji; Kundhikanjana, Worasom; Kelly, Michael A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1110.0067	text	January 2011
Imaging currents in HgTe quantum wells in the quantum spin Hall regime Nowack, Katja C.; Spanton, Eric M.; Baenninger, Matthias arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1212.2203	text	January 2012
Induced Superconductivity in the Quantum Spin Hall Edge Hart, Sean; Ren, Hechen; Wagner, Timo arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1312.2559	text	January 2013
Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells Bernevig, B. Andrei; Hughes, Taylor L.; Zhang, Shou-Cheng arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0611399	text	January 2006
Electronic structures of HgTe and CdTe surfaces and HgTe/CdTe interfaces Schick, J. T.; Bose, S. M.; Chen, A. -B. Physical Review B, Vol. 40, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.40.7825	journal	October 1989
Quantum Hall transport as a probe of capacitance profile at graphene edges Vera-Marun, I. J.; Zomer, P. J.; Veligura, A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1112.5462	text	January 2011

Cited By (39)

High-Frequency Nonlinear Transport and Photogalvanic Effects in 2D Topological Insulators: High-Frequency Nonlinear Transport and Photogalvanic Effects in 2D Topological Insulators Durnev, Mikhail V.; Tarasenko, Sergey A. Annalen der Physik, Vol. 531, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.201800418	journal	February 2019
Scanning Microwave Impedance Microscopy (sMIM) in Electronic and Quantum Materials Rubin, Kurt A.; Yang, Yongliang; Amster, Oskar Electrical Atomic Force Microscopy for Nanoelectronics https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15612-1_12	book	August 2019
Quantum transport in topological semimetals under magnetic fields (II) Sun, Hai-Peng; Lu, Hai-Zhou Frontiers of Physics, Vol. 14, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-019-0890-7	journal	April 2019
Topological Insulator Superlattices Klipstein, Philip Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 47, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-018-6510-4	journal	July 2018
Topological mosaics in moiré superlattices of van der Waals heterobilayers Tong, Qingjun; Yu, Hongyi; Zhu, Qizhong Nature Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3968	journal	November 2016
Edge conduction in monolayer WTe2 Fei, Zaiyao; Palomaki, Tauno; Wu, Sanfeng Nature Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4091	journal	April 2017
Quantum spin Hall state in monolayer 1T'-WTe2 Tang, Shujie; Zhang, Chaofan; Wong, Dillon Nature Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4174	journal	June 2017
Magneto-transport in inverted HgTe quantum wells Yahniuk, Ivan; Krishtopenko, Sergey S.; Grabecki, Grzegorz npj Quantum Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-019-0154-3	journal	April 2019
Quartz tuning fork based microwave impedance microscopy Cui, Yong-Tao; Ma, Eric Yue; Shen, Zhi-Xun Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 87, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4954156	journal	June 2016
Optically coupled methods for microwave impedance microscopy Johnston, Scott R.; Ma, Eric Yue; Shen, Zhi-Xun Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 89, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5011391	journal	April 2018
Quantitative measurements of nanoscale permittivity and conductivity using tuning-fork-based microwave impedance microscopy Wu, Xiaoyu; Hao, Zhenqi; Wu, Di Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 89, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5022997	journal	April 2018
Research Update: Recent progress on 2D materials beyond graphene: From ripples, defects, intercalation, and valley dynamics to straintronics and power dissipation Lin, Zhong; Lei, Yu; Subramanian, Shruti APL Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5042598	journal	August 2018
Uncovering edge states and electrical inhomogeneity in MoS ₂ field-effect transistors Wu, Di; Li, Xiao; Luan, Lan Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, Issue 31 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605982113	journal	July 2016
A new mechanism of post-transfer editing by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases: catalysis of hydrolytic reaction by bacterial-type prolyl-tRNA synthetase Boyarshin, Konstantin S.; Priss, Anastasia E.; Rayevskiy, Alexsey V. Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, Vol. 35, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2016.1155171	journal	March 2016
Optical properties of helical edge channels in zinc-blende-type topological insulators: selection rules, circular and linear dichroism, circular and linear photocurrents Durnev, M. V.; Tarasenko, S. A. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 31, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/aaf024	journal	December 2018
Electrical tuning of helical edge states in topological multilayers Campos, T.; Toloza Sandoval, M. A.; Diago-Cisneros, L. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 31, Issue 49 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648x/ab38a1	journal	September 2019
Edge transport in the trivial phase of InAs/GaSb Nichele, Fabrizio; Suominen, Henri J.; Kjaergaard, Morten New Journal of Physics, Vol. 18, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/18/8/083005	journal	July 2016
Local Electrodynamics of a Disordered Conductor Model System Measured with a Microwave Impedance Microscope Thierschmann, Holger; Cetinay, Hale; Finkel, Matvey Physical Review Applied, Vol. 13, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevapplied.13.014039	journal	January 2020
Josephson junction through a disordered topological insulator with helical magnetization Zyuzin, Alexander; Alidoust, Mohammad; Loss, Daniel Physical Review B, Vol. 93, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.93.214502	journal	June 2016
Photogalvanic probing of helical edge channels in two-dimensional HgTe topological insulators Dantscher, K. -M.; Kozlov, D. A.; Scherr, M. T. Physical Review B, Vol. 95, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.95.201103	journal	May 2017
Spontaneous supercurrent and $φ_{0}$ phase shift parallel to magnetized topological insulator interfaces Alidoust, Mohammad; Hamzehpour, Hossein Physical Review B, Vol. 96, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.96.165422	journal	October 2017
Interaction-induced edge states in HgTe/CdTe quantum wells under a magnetic field Chen, Zewei; Ng, Tai Kai Physical Review B, Vol. 99, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.99.235157	journal	June 2019
Topological Protection Brought to Light by the Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking Piatrusha, S. U.; Tikhonov, E. S.; Kvon, Z. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 123, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.056801	journal	July 2019
Imaging quantum spin Hall edges in monolayer WTe ₂ Shi, Yanmeng; Kahn, Joshua; Niu, Ben Science Advances, Vol. 5, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat8799	journal	February 2019
Observation of the quantum spin Hall effect up to 100 kelvin in a monolayer crystal Wu, Sanfeng; Fatemi, Valla; Gibson, Quinn D. Science, Vol. 359, Issue 6371 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan6003	journal	January 2018
Terahertz resistive response of a two-dimensional topological insulator in a quasiballistic transport regime Kvon, Z. D.; Dantscher, K. -M.; Scherr, M. -T. JETP Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1134/s0021364016220112	journal	November 2016
A new mechanism of post-transfer editing by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases: catalysis of hydrolytic reaction by bacterial-type prolyl-tRNA synthetase Boyarshin, Konstantin S.; Priss, Anastasia E.; Rayevskiy, Alexsey V. Taylor & Francis https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.2303389.v2	text	January 2016
Josephson junction through a disordered topological insulator with helical magnetization Zyuzin, Alexander A.; Alidoust, Mohammad; Loss, Daniel American Physical Society https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep53472	text	January 2016
A new mechanism of post-transfer editing by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases: Catalysis of hydrolytic reaction by bacterial-type prolyl-tRNA synthetase Boyarshin, Konstantin S.; Priss, Anastasia E.; Rayevskiy, Alexsey V. Figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.2303389.v1	text	January 2016
Photogalvanic probing of helical edge channels in two-dimensional HgTe topological insulators Dantscher, Kathrin-Maria; Kozlov, D. A.; Scherr, M. -T. Universität Regensburg https://doi.org/10.5283/epub.35764	text	January 2017
Edge conduction in monolayer WTe2 Fei, Zaiyao; Palomaki, Tauno; Wu, Sanfeng arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1610.07924	text	January 2016
Interplay of chiral and helical states in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator lateral junction Calvo, M. R.; de Juan, F.; Ilan, R. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1702.08561	text	January 2017
Optically Coupled Methods for Microwave Impedance Microscopy Johnston, Scott R.; Ma, Eric Yue; Shen, Zhi-Xun arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1710.10239	text	January 2017
Quantitative Measurements of Nanoscale Permittivity and Conductivity Using Tuning-fork-based Microwave Impedance Microscopy Wu, Xiaoyu; Hao, Zhenqi; Wu, Di arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1803.10821	text	January 2018
Interaction induced edge states in HgTe/CdTe Quantum Well under magnetic field Chen, Zewei; Ng, Tai Kai arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1806.04382	text	January 2018
Self-biased current, magnetic interference response, and superconducting vortices in tilted Weyl semimetals with disorder Alidoust, Mohammad arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1811.11765	text	January 2018
Topological protection brought to light by the time-reversal symmetry breaking Piatrusha, S. U.; Tikhonov, E. S.; Kvon, Z. D. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1902.09807	text	January 2019
Electrical tuning of helical edge states in topological multilayers Campos, T.; Sandoval, M. A. T.; Diago-Cisneros, L. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1903.02687	text	January 2019
Local electrodynamics of a disordered conductor model system measured with a microwave impedance microscope Thierschmann, Holger; Cetinay, Hale; Finkel, Matvey arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1908.09810	text	January 2019

Similar Records

The Quantum Spin Hall Effect: Theory and Experiment

Journal Article · Fri Mar 19 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · J.Phys.Soc.Jap.77:031007,2008 · OSTI ID:1260964

Konig, Markus; Buhmann, Hartmut; Molenkamp, Laurens W; +4 more

Interplay of Chiral and Helical States in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator Lateral Junction

Journal Article · Wed Nov 29 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Physical Review Letters · OSTI ID:1260964

Calvo, M. R.; de Juan, F.; Ilan, R.; +11 more

Quantum Spin Hall Effect in Inverted Type II Semiconductors

Journal Article · Fri Mar 19 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Phys.Rev.Lett.100:236601,2008 · OSTI ID:1260964

Liu, Chaoxing; Hughes, Taylor L; Qi, Xiao-Liang; +2 more

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Title: Unexpected edge conduction in mercury telluride quantum wells under broken time-reversal symmetry

Citation Formats

References (37)

Cited By (39)

Similar Records

Related Subjects