Parallel magnetic field driven quantum phase transition in a thin topological insulator film
Abstract
It is well-known that helical surface states of a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI) do not respond to a static in-plane magnetic field. Formally this occurs because the in-plane magnetic field appears as a vector potential in the Dirac Hamiltonian of the surface states and can thus be removed by a gauge transformation of the surface electron wavefunctions. Here we show that when the top and bottom surfaces of a thin film of TI are hybridized and the Fermi level is in the hybridization gap, a nonzero diamagnetic response appears. Moreover, a quantum phase transition occurs at a finite critical value of the parallel field from an insulator with a diamagnetic response to a semimetal with a vanishing response to the parallel field.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1102.0349,
title = {Parallel magnetic field driven quantum phase transition in a thin topological insulator film},
author = {A. A. Zyuzin and M. D. Hook and A. A. Burkov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1102.0349},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
4+ pages, 1 figure, published version