The robustness of quantum spin Hall effect to the thickness fluctuation in HgTe quantum wells

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/21/11/117301

Abstract The quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE) was first realized in HgTe quantum wells (QWs), which remain the only known two-dimensional topological insulator so far. In this paper, we have systematically studied the effect of the thickness fluctuation of HgTe QWs on the QSHE. We start with the case of constant mass with random distributions, and reveal that the disordered system can be well described by a virtual uniform QW with an effective mass when the number of components is small. When the number is infinite and corresponds to the real fluctuation, we find that the QSHE is not only robust, but also can be generated by relatively strong fluctuation. Our results imply that the thickness fluctuation does not cause backscattering, and the QSHE is robust to it.

Keywords: quantum spin Hall effect HgTe quantum wells disorder effect

Received: 01 June 2012
Revised: 26 July 2012
Accepted manuscript online:

PACS:	73.20.Fz	(Weak or Anderson localization)
	72.80.Sk	(Insulators)
	72.15.Rn	(Localization effects (Anderson or weak localization))

Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11104189 and 11074023) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2011CBA00102, 2011CB921700, and 2012CB821403).

Corresponding Authors: Guo Huai-Ming
E-mail: hmguo@buaa.edu.cn

Cite this article:

Guo Huai-Ming (郭怀明), Zhang Xiang-Lin (张相林), Feng Shi-Ping (冯世平 ) The robustness of quantum spin Hall effect to the thickness fluctuation in HgTe quantum wells 2012 Chin. Phys. B 21 117301

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The robustness of quantum spin Hall effect to the thickness fluctuation in HgTe quantum wells

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