We study quantum transport in HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells under the condition that the chemical potential is located outside of the bandgap. We first analyze symmetry properties of the effective Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang Hamiltonian and the relevant symmetry-breaking perturbations. Based on this analysis, we overview possible patterns of symmetry breaking that govern the quantum interference (weak localization or weak antilocalization) correction to the conductivity in two dimensional HgTe/HgCdTe samples. Further, we perform a microscopic calculation of the quantum correction beyond the diffusion approximation. Finally, the interference correction and the low-field magnetoresistance in a quasi-one-dimensional geometry are analyzed.
@article{arxiv.1408.5759,
title = {Quantum interference in HgTe structures},
author = {I. V. Gornyi and V. Yu. Kachorovskii and A. D. Mirlin and P. M. Ostrovsky},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.5759},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
15 pages, 6 figures; feature article (topical review) for a special issue "Semiconductor Spintronics" (DFG-SPP 1285) of Physica Status Solidi B: Basic Solid State Physics; partly overviews PRB 86, 125323 (2012) and PRB 90, 085401 (2014) (arXiv:1207.4102 and arXiv:1402.7097, respectively)