Quantum phase transitions and topological proximity effects in graphene nanoribbon heterostructures

被引:9
作者
Zhang, Gufeng [1 ,2 ,3 ,4 ]
Li, Xiaoguang [1 ,2 ,3 ,5 ]
Wu, Guangfen [1 ,5 ]
Wang, Jie [1 ]
Culcer, Dimitrie [1 ,6 ]
Kaxiras, Efthimios [7 ]
Zhang, Zhenyu [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Sci & Technol China, Hefei Natl Lab Phys Sci Microscale, Int Ctr Quantum Design Funct Mat ICQD, Hefei 230026, Anhui, Peoples R China
[2] Fudan Univ, State Key Lab Surface Phys, Shanghai 200433, Peoples R China
[3] Fudan Univ, Dept Phys, Shanghai 200433, Peoples R China
[4] Univ Calif San Diego, Dept Phys, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA
[5] Chinese Acad Sci, Shenzhen Inst Adv Technol, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
[6] Univ New S Wales, Sch Phys, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
[7] Harvard Univ, Sch Appl Sci & Engn, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
关键词
SINGLE DIRAC CONE; INSULATOR; STATES;
D O I
10.1039/c3nr05284b
中图分类号
O6 [化学];
学科分类号
0703 ;
摘要
Topological insulators are bulk insulators that possess robust chiral conducting states along their interfaces with normal insulators. A tremendous research effort has recently been devoted to topological insulator-based heterostructures, in which conventional proximity effects give rise to a series of exotic physical phenomena. Here we establish the potential existence of topological proximity effects at the interface between a topological insulator and a normal insulator, using graphene-based heterostructures as prototypical systems. Unlike conventional proximity effects in topological insulator based heterostructures, which refer to various phase transitions associated with the symmetry breaking of specific local order parameters, topological proximity effects describe the rich variety of quantum phase transitions associated with the global properties of the system measured by the location of the topological edge states. Specifically, we show that the location of the topological edge states exhibits a versatile tunability as a function of the interface orientation, the strength of the interface tunnel coupling between a topological graphene nanoribbon and a normal graphene nanoribbon, the spin-orbit coupling strength in the normal graphene nanoribbon, and the width of the system. For zigzag and bearded graphene nanoribbons, the topological edge states can be tuned to be either at the interface or outer edge of the normal ribbon. For armchair graphene nanoribbons, the potential location of the topological edge state can be further shifted to the edge of or within the normal ribbon, to the interface, or diving into the topological graphene nanoribbon. We further show that the topological phase diagram established for the prototypical graphene heterostructures can also explain the intriguing quantum phase transition reported recently in other topological-insulator heterostructures. We also discuss potential experimental realizations of the predicted topological proximity effects, which may pave the way for integrating the salient functionality of topological insulators and graphene in future device applications.
引用
收藏
页码:3259 / 3267
页数:9
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