Related papers: Elastic backscattering of quantum spin Hall edge m…
Transport by helical edge states of a quantum spin Hall insulator is experimentally characterized by a weakly temperature-dependent mean free path of a few microns and by reproducible conductance oscillations, challenging proposed…
The nature of a metal--insulator transition tuned by external gates in quantum Hall (QH) systems with point constrictions at integer bulk filling, as reported in recent experiments of Roddaro et al. [1], is addressed. We are particularly…
We study backscattering of electrons and conductance suppression in a helical edge channel in two-dimensional topological insulators with broken axial spin symmetry in the presence of nonmagnetic point defects that create bound states. In…
We evaluate the low-temperature conductance of a weakly interacting one-dimensional helical liquid without axial spin symmetry. The lack of that symmetry allows for inelastic backscattering of a single electron, accompanied by…
A single pair of helical edge states as realized at the boundary of a quantum spin Hall insulator is known to be robust against elastic single particle backscattering as long as time reversal symmetry is preserved. However, there is no…
Time-reversal symmetry suppresses electron backscattering in a quantum-spin-Hall edge, yielding quantized conductance at zero temperature. Understanding the dominant corrections in finite-temperature experiments remains an unsettled issue.…
Magnetic impurities affect the transport properties of the helical edge states of quantum spin Hall insulators by causing single-electron backscattering. We study such a system in the presence of a Rashba spin-orbit interaction induced by…
The Quantum Spin Hall insulator is characterized by the presence of gapless helical edge states where the spin of the charge carriers is locked to their direction of motion. In order to probe the properties of the edge modes, we propose a…
We consider a quantum spin Hall system in a two-terminal setup, with an extended tunneling contact connecting upper and lower edges. We analyze the effects of this geometry on the backscattering current as a function of voltage,…
We consider the effects of electron scattering off a quantum magnetic impurity on the current-voltage characteristics of the helical edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator. We compute the backscattering contribution to the current…
Transport in an ideal two-dimensional quantum spin Hall device is dominated by the counterpropagating edge states of electrons with opposite spins, giving the universal value of the conductance, $2e^2/h$. We study the effect on the…
We study transport properties of the helical edge channels of a quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator, in the presence of electron-electron interactions and weak, local Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The combination of the two allows for inelastic…
Elastic backscattering of electrons moving along the helical edge is prohibited by time-reversal symmetry (TRS). We demonstrate, however, that an ensemble of magnetic impurities may cause TRS-preserving quasi-elastic backscattering,…
The quantization of conductance in the presence of non-magnetic point defects is a consequence of topological protection and the spin-momentum locking of helical edge states in two-dimensional topological insulators. This protection ensures…
We show that that the non-equilibrium spin polarization of one dimensional helical edge states at the boundary of a two dimensional topological insulator can dynamically induce a polarization of nuclei via the hyperfine interaction. When…
We investigate electronic correlation effects on edge states of quantum spin-Hall insulators within the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Given the U(1) spin symmetry and time-reversal invariance, the…
Electrical currents in a quantum spin Hall insulator are confined to the boundary of the system. The charge carriers can be described as massless relativistic particles, whose spin and momentum are coupled to each other. While the helical…
We theoretically study Coulomb drag between two helical edges with broken spin-rotational symmetry, such as would occur in two capacitively coupled quantum spin Hall insulators. For the helical edges, Coulomb drag is particularly…
In this paper, we address the question of stability of protected chiral modes (e.g., helical edge states at the boundary of two-dimensional topological insulators) upon interactions with the external bath. Namely, we study how…
The spin degree of freedom is crucial for both understanding and exploiting the particular properties of the edges of two-dimensional topological insulators. In the absence of superconductivity and magnetism, Rashba coupling is the most…