Volkov-Pankratov states in topological heterojunctions
Abstract
We show that a smooth interface between two insulators of opposite topological Z2 indices possesses multiple surface states, both massless and massive. While the massless surface state is non-degenerate, chiral and insensitive to the interface potential, the massive surface states only appear for a sufficiently smooth heterojunction. The surface states are particle-hole symmetric and a voltage drop reveals their intrinsic relativistic nature, similarly to Landau bands of Dirac electrons in a magnetic field. We discuss the relevance of the massive Dirac surface states in recent ARPES and transport experiments.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1704.08954,
title = {Volkov-Pankratov states in topological heterojunctions},
author = {S. Tchoumakov and V. Jouffrey and A. Inhofer and E. Bocquillon and B. Plaçais and D. Carpentier and M. O. Goerbig},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1704.08954},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
5 pages, 3 figures; 6 pages of supplementary material incorporated; accepted for publication in Physical Review B as a Rapid Communication