Topological states in multi-orbital HgTe honeycomb lattices
Abstract
Research on graphene has revealed remarkable phenomena arising in the honeycomb lattice. However, the quantum spin Hall effect predicted at the K point could not be observed in graphene and other honeycomb structures of light elements due to an insufficiently strong spin-orbit coupling. Here we show theoretically that 2D honeycomb lattices of HgTe can combine the effects of the honeycomb geometry and strong spin-orbit coupling. The conduction bands, experimentally accessible via doping, can be described by a tight-binding lattice model as in graphene, but including multi-orbital degrees of freedom and spin-orbit coupling. This results in very large topological gaps (up to 35 meV) and a flattened band detached from the others. Owing to this flat band and the sizable Coulomb interaction, honeycomb structures of HgTe constitute a promising platform for the observation of a fractional Chern insulator or a fractional quantum spin Hall phase.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1503.06066,
title = {Topological states in multi-orbital HgTe honeycomb lattices},
author = {W. Beugeling and E. Kalesaki and C. Delerue and Y. -M. Niquet and D. Vanmaekelbergh and C. Morais Smith},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.06066},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
includes supplementary material