Half-Quantized Helical Hinge Currents in Axion Insulators
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2022
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| _version_ | 1866914668177522688 |
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| author | Gong, Ming Liu, Haiwen Jiang, Hua Chen, Chui-Zhen Xie, X. C. |
| author_facet | Gong, Ming Liu, Haiwen Jiang, Hua Chen, Chui-Zhen Xie, X. C. |
| contents | We propose that half-quantized helical hinge currents manifest as the fingerprint of the axion insulator (AI). These helical hinge currents microscopically originate from the lateral Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift of massless side-surface Dirac electrons that are totally reflected from the hinges. Meanwhile, due to the presence of the massive top and bottom surfaces of the AI, the helical current induced by the GH shift is half-quantized. The semiclassical wave packet analysis uncovers that the hinge current has a topological origin and its half-quantization is robust to parameter changes. Lastly, we propose an experimentally feasible six-terminal device to identify the half-quantized hinge channels by measuring the nonreciprocal conductances. Our results advance the understanding of the non-trivial transport and topological magnetoelectric responses in AIs. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2203_12982 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Half-Quantized Helical Hinge Currents in Axion Insulators Gong, Ming Liu, Haiwen Jiang, Hua Chen, Chui-Zhen Xie, X. C. Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics We propose that half-quantized helical hinge currents manifest as the fingerprint of the axion insulator (AI). These helical hinge currents microscopically originate from the lateral Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift of massless side-surface Dirac electrons that are totally reflected from the hinges. Meanwhile, due to the presence of the massive top and bottom surfaces of the AI, the helical current induced by the GH shift is half-quantized. The semiclassical wave packet analysis uncovers that the hinge current has a topological origin and its half-quantization is robust to parameter changes. Lastly, we propose an experimentally feasible six-terminal device to identify the half-quantized hinge channels by measuring the nonreciprocal conductances. Our results advance the understanding of the non-trivial transport and topological magnetoelectric responses in AIs. |
| title | Half-Quantized Helical Hinge Currents in Axion Insulators |
| topic | Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.12982 |