English

Theory of multiple magnetic scattering for quasiparticles on a gapless topological insulator surface

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2012-06-21 v2 Other Condensed Matter

Abstract

We develop a general low-energy multiple-scattering partial-wave theory for gapless topological insulator (TI) surfaces in the presence of magnetic impurities. As applications, we discuss the differential cross section (CS) dΛ/dφd\Lambda/d\varphi, the total CS Λtot\Lambda_{tot}, the Hall component of resistivity Ω\Omega, and inverse momentum relaxation time ΓM\Gamma_{M} for single- and two-centered magnetic scattering. We show that differing from the nonmagnetic impurity scattering, ss\mathtt{-}wave approximation is not advisable and convergent in the present case. The symmetry of CS is reduced and the backscattering occurs and becomes stronger with increasing the effective magnetic moment MM of single magnetic impurity. We show a non-zero perpendicular resistivity component Ω\Omega, which may be useful for tuning the Hall voltage of the sample. Consistent with the analysis of dΛ/dφd\Lambda /d\varphi, by comparing ΓM\Gamma_{M} with Λtot\Lambda_{tot}, we can determine different weights of backscattering and forward scattering. Similar to CS, Ω\Omega and ΓM\Gamma_{M} also exhibit oscillating behavior for multiple magnetic scattering centers due to interference effect.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1203.5910,
  title  = {Theory of multiple magnetic scattering for quasiparticles on a gapless topological insulator surface},
  author = {Zhen-Guo Fu and Ping Zhang and Zhigang Wang and Fawei Zheng and Shu-Shen Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1203.5910},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

19pages, 4 figures