Berry phase jumps and giant nonreciprocity in Dirac quantum dots

Journal Article · Tue Dec 06 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.235406· OSTI ID:1388203

Rodriguez-Nieva, Joaquin F. ^[1]; Levitov, Leonid S. ^[1]

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1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

In this work we predict that a strong nonreciprocity in the resonance spectra of Dirac quantum dots can be induced by the Berry phase. The nonreciprocity arises in relatively weak magnetic fields and is manifest in anomalously large field-induced splittings of quantum dot resonances which are degenerate at $$B$$ = 0 due to time-reversal symmetry. This exotic behavior, which is governed by field-induced jumps in the Berry phase of confined electronic states, is unique to quantum dots in Dirac materials and is absent in conventional quantum dots. The effect is strong for gapless Dirac particles and can overwhelm the $$B$$ -induced orbital and Zeeman splittings. A finite Dirac mass suppresses the effect. The nonreciprocity, predicted for generic two-dimensional Dirac materials, is accessible through Faraday and Kerr optical rotation measurements and scanning tunneling spectroscopy.

• Research Organization: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Excitonics (CE); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0001088; DMR-1004147
• OSTI ID: 1388203
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1334556
• Journal Information: Physical Review B, Vol. 94, Issue 23; Related Information: CE partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (lead); Brookhaven National Laboratory; Harvard University; ISSN 2469-9950
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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