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arXiv · 1203.4880

Spin-orbit scattering in quantum diffusion of massive Dirac fermions

Wen-Yu Shan·Hai-Zhou Lu·Shun-Qing Shen
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Abstract

Effect of spin-orbit scattering on quantum diffusive transport of two-dimensional massive Dirac fermions is studied by the diagrammatic technique. The quantum diffusion of massive Dirac fermions can be viewed as a singlet Cooperon in the massless limit and a triplet Cooperon in the large-mass limit. The spin-orbit scattering behaves like random magnetic fields only to the triplet Cooperon, and suppresses the weak localization of Dirac fermions in the large-mass regime. This behavior suggests an experiment to detect the weak localization of bulk subbands in topological insulator thin films, in which a narrowing of the cusp of the negative magnetoconductivity is expected after doping heavy-element impurities. Finally, a detailed comparison between the conventional two-dimensional electrons and Dirac fermions is presented for impurities of orthogonal, symplectic, and unitary symmetries.

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Wen-Yu Shan, Hai-Zhou Lu, Shun-Qing Shen. 2012-03-22. Spin-orbit scattering in quantum diffusion of massive Dirac fermions. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.86.125303

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