Related papers: Magnetoelectric polarizability and axion electrody…
The electrodynamics of topological insulators (TIs) is described by modified Maxwell's equations, which contain additional terms that couple an electric field to a magnetization and a magnetic field to a polarization of the medium, such…
Topological insulators subject to a time-symmetry-breaking perturbation are predicted to display a magneto-electric effect that causes the electric and magnetic induction fields to mix at the material's surface. This effect induces…
We show that the magneto-electric coupling in 3D (strong) topological insulators is related to a second derivative of the bulk magnetization. The formula we derive is the non-linear response analog of the Streda formula for Hall…
It has been proposed that topological insulators can be best characterized not as surface conductors, but as bulk magnetoelectrics that -- under the right conditions-- have a universal quantized magnetoelectric response coefficient…
Topological insulators in three dimensions are nonmagnetic insulators that possess metallic surface states as a consequence of the nontrivial topology of electronic wavefunctions in the bulk of the material. They are the first known…
The optical properties of a spherical topological insulator embedded concentrically in a single-electron system consisting of a core-shell GaAs quantum dot are analyzed, when the system is under a uniform external magnetic field. The…
Based on a first-principles approach, we show that in a single crystal of a prototypical topological insulator such as Bi$_2$Se$_3$ the difference in the work function between adjacent surfaces with different crystal-face orientations…
Three-dimensional topological insulator films in contact with magnetic layers exhibit intriguing magneto-optical and magnetoelectric phenomena, but little is known beyond the linear response regime. We demonstrate that the presence of two…
In the context of $\theta$ electrodynamics we find transverse electromagnetic wave solutions forbidden in Maxwell electrodynamics. Our results attest to new evidence of the topological magnetoelectric effect in topological insulators,…
Three-dimensional topological insulators or axion insulators exhibit the topological magnetoelectric effect, which is isotropic with a universal coefficient of proportionality quantized in units of $e^2/2h$. Here we study the finite-size…
We explore a model akin to axion electrodynamics in which the axion field $\theta (t,\mathbf{x})$ rather than being dynamical is a piecewise constant effective parameter $\theta$ encoding the microscopic properties of the medium inasmuch as…
We describe a three-dimensional crystalline topological insulator (TI) phase of matter that exhibits spontaneous polarization. This polarization results from the presence of (approximately) flat bands on the surface of such TIs. These flat…
The electronic ground state of a three-dimensional (3D) band insulator with time-reversal ($\Theta$) symmetry or time-reversal times a discrete translation ($\Theta T_{1/2}$) symmetry is classified by a $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$-valued topological…
One of the defining properties of the conventional three-dimensional ("$\mathbb{Z}_2$-", or "spin-orbit"-) topological insulator is its characteristic magnetoelectric effect, as described by axion electrodynamics. In this paper, we discuss…
In recent attempts to observe axion electrodynamics, much effort has focused on trilayer heterostructures of magnetic topological insulators, and in particular on the examination of a so-called zero Hall plateau, which has misguidedly been…
We show that a thin film of a three-dimensional topological insulator such as Bi$_2$Se$_3$ or Bi$_2$Te$_3$ can exhibit strong linear and nonlinear magneto-optical effects in a transverse magnetic field. In particular, one can achieve an…
Motivated by recent terahertz (THz) spectroscopy measurements in $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$, we develop a theory for magnetoelectric (ME) effects in Mott insulators of $d^5$ transition metal ions in an octahedral crystal field. For $4d$ and $5d$…
The surface of a 3D topological insulator is conducting and the topologically nontrivial nature of the surface states is observed in experiments. It is the aim of this paper to review and analyze experimental observations with respect to…
We extend a microscopic theory of polarization and magnetization to include the spin degree of freedom of the electrons, introducing a general spin orbit coupling and Zeeman interaction term in the Hamiltonian. At finite frequencies and…
We consider the magnetoelectric effect produced by a capacitor formed by two semispherical perfectly conducting plates subjected to a potential difference and surrounded by a spherical shell of a topologically insulating material. The…