Dynamic conductivity of the bulk states of n-type HgTe/CdTe quantum well topological insulator

Journal Article · Mon Nov 17 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4902411· OSTI ID:22392013

Chen, Qinjun; Sanderson, Matthew ^[1]; Cao, J. C. ^[2]; Zhang, Chao ^[1]

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1. School of Physics, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522 (Australia)
2. Key Laboratory of Terahertz Solid State Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China)

We theoretically studied the frequency-dependent current response of the bulk state of topological insulator HgTe/CdTe quantum well. The optical conductivity is mainly due to the inter-band process at high frequencies. At low frequencies, intra-band process dominates with a dramatic drop to near zero before the inter-band contribution takes over. The conductivity decreases with temperature at low temperature and increases with temperature at high temperature. The transport scattering rate has an opposite frequency dependence in the low and high temperature regime. The different frequency dependence is due to the interplay of the carrier-impurity scattering and carrier population near the Fermi surface.

• OSTI ID: 22392013
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 20; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CADMIUM TELLURIDES
DOPED MATERIALS
ELECTRICAL INSULATORS
FERMI LEVEL
FREQUENCY DEPENDENCE
MERCURY TELLURIDES
QUANTUM WELLS
SCATTERING