arXiv subjects

N. N. Mikhailov

Publications and source records attributed to N. N. Mikhailov.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Robust helical edge transport at $ν=0$ quantum Hall state

Among the most interesting predictions in two-dimensional materials with a Dirac cone is the existence of the zeroth Landau level (LL), equally filled by electrons and holes with opposite chirality. The gapless edge states with helical spin structure emerge from Zeeman splitting at the LL filling factor $ν=0$ gapped quantum Hall state. We present observations of a giant nonlocal four-terminal transport in zero-gap HgTe quantum wells at the $ν=0$ quantum Hall state. Our experiment clearly demonstrates the existence of the robust helical edge state in a system with single valley Dirac cone materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Temperature-driven single-valley Dirac fermions in HgTe quantum wells

We report on temperature-dependent magnetospectroscopy of two HgTe/CdHgTe quantum wells below and above the critical well thickness $d_c$. Our results, obtained in magnetic fields up to 16 T and temperature range from 2 K to 150 K, clearly indicate a change of the band-gap energy with temperature. The quantum well wider than $d_c$ evidences a temperature-driven transition from topological insulator to semiconductor phases. At the critical temperature of 90 K, the merging of inter- and intra-band transitions in weak magnetic fields clearly specifies the formation of gapless state, revealing the appearance of single-valley massless Dirac fermions with velocity of $5.6\times10^5$ m$\times$s$^{-1}$. For both quantum wells, the energies extracted from experimental data are in good agreement with calculations on the basis of the 8-band Kane Hamiltonian with temperature-dependent parameters.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

The valence band energy spectrum of HgTe quantum wells with inverted band structures

The energy spectrum of the valence band in HgTe/Cd$_x$Hg$_{1-x}$Te quantum wells with a width $(8-20)$~nm has been studied experimentally by magnetotransport effects and theoretically in framework $4$-bands $kP$-method. Comparison of the Hall density with the density found from period of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations clearly shows that the degeneracy of states of the top of the valence band is equal to 2 at the hole density $p< 5.5\times 10^{11}$~cm$^{-2}$. Such degeneracy does not agree with the calculations of the spectrum performed within the framework of the $4$-bands $kP$-method for symmetric quantum wells. These calculations show that the top of the valence band consists of four spin-degenerate extremes located at $k\neq 0$ (valleys) which gives the total degeneracy $K=8$. It is shown that taking into account the "mixing of states" at the interfaces leads to the removal of the spin degeneracy that reduces the degeneracy to $K=4$. Accounting for any additional asymmetry, for example, due to the difference in the mixing parameters at the interfaces, the different broadening of the boundaries of the well, etc, leads to reduction of the valleys degeneracy, making $K=2$. It is noteworthy that for our case two-fold degeneracy occurs due to degeneracy of two single-spin valleys. The hole effective mass ($m_h$) determined from analysis of the temperature dependence of the amplitude of the SdH oscillations show that $m_h$ is equal to $(0.25\pm0.02)\,m_0$ and weakly increases with the hole density. Such a value of $m_h$ and its dependence on the hole density are in a good agreement with the calculated effective mass.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Universal Faraday rotation in HgTe wells with critical thickness

The universal value of Faraday rotation angle close to the fine structure constant is experimentally observed in thin HgTe quantum wells with thickness on the border between trivial insulating and the topologically non-trivial Dirac phases. The quantized value of the Faraday angle remains robust in the broad range of magnetic fields and gate voltages. Dynamic Hall conductivity of the hole-like carriers extracted from the analysis of the transmission data shows theoretically predicted universal value of consistent with the doubly degenerate Dirac state. On shifting the Fermi level by the gate voltage the effective sign of the charge carriers changes from positive (holes) to negative (electrons). The electron-like part of the dynamic response does not show quantum plateaus and is well described within the classical Drude model.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Photogalvanic probing of helical edge channels in 2D HgTe topological insulators

We report on the observation of a circular photogalvanic current excited by terahertz (THz) laser radiation in helical edge channels of HgTe-based 2D topological insulators (TIs). The direction of the photocurrent reverses by switching the radiation polarization from right-handed to left-handed one and, for fixed photon helicity, is opposite for the opposite edges. The photocurrent is detected in a wide range of gate voltages. With decreasing the Fermi level below the conduction band bottom, the current emerges, reaches a maximum, decreases, changes its sign close to the charge neutrality point (CNP), and again rises. Conductance measured over a 7 $μ$m distance at CNP approaches 2e2/h, the value characteristic for ballistic transport in 2D TIs. The data reveal that the photocurrent is caused by photoionization of helical edge electrons to the conduction band. We discuss the microscopic model of this phenomenon and compare calculations with the experimental data.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Strong coupling between a permalloy ferromagnetic contact and a helical edge channel in a narrow HgTe quantum well

We experimentally investigate spin-polarized electron transport between a permalloy ferromagnet and the edge of a two-dimensional electron system with band inversion, realized in a narrow, 8~nm wide HgTe quantum well. In zero magnetic field, we observe strong asymmetry of the edge potential distribution with respect to the ferromagnetic ground lead. This result indicates, that the helical edge channel, specific for the structures with band inversion even at the conductive bulk, is strongly coupled to the ferromagnetic side contact, possibly due to the effects of proximity magnetization. It allows selective and spin-sensitive contacting of helical edge states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Temperature-dependent magnetospectroscopy of HgTe quantum wells

We report on magnetospectroscopy of HgTe quantum wells in magnetic fields up to 45 T in temperature range from 4.2 K up to 185 K. We observe intra- and inter-band transitions from zero-mode Landau levels, which split from the bottom conduction and upper valence subbands, and merge under the applied magnetic field. To describe experimental results, realistic temperature-dependent calculations of Landau levels have been performed. We show that although our samples are topological insulators at low temperatures only, the signature of such phase persists in optical transitions at high temperatures and high magnetic fields. Our results demonstrate that temperature-dependent magnetospectroscopy is a powerful tool to discriminate trivial and topological insulator phases in HgTe quantum wells.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Zeeman splitting of conduction band in HgTe quantum wells near the Dirac point

The Zeeman splitting of the conduction band in the HgTe quantum wells both with normal and inverted spectrum has been studied experimentally in a wide electron density range. The simultaneous analysis of the SdH oscillations in low magnetic fields at different tilt angles and of the shape of the oscillations in moderate magnetic fields gives a possibility to find the ratio of the Zeeman splitting to the orbital one and anisotropy of g-factor. It is shown that the ratios of the Zeeman splitting to the orbital one are close to each other for both types of structures, with a normal and inverted spectrum and they are close enough to the values calculated within kP method. In contrast, the values of g-factor anisotropy in the structures with normal and inverted spectra is strongly different and for both cases differs significantly from the calculated ones. We believe that such disagreement with calculations is a result of the interface inversion asymmetry in the HgTe quantum well, which is not taken into account in the kP calculations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Terahertz properties of Dirac fermions in HgTe films with optical doping

Terahertz properties of mercury telluride (HgTe) films with critical thickness are presented and discussed. The density of the charge carriers is controlled using contact-free optical doping by visible light. In the magneto-optical response of HgTe the contribution of two types of carriers (electrons and holes) can be identified. The density of the electrons can be modified by light illumination by more than one order of magnitude. As the hole density is roughly illuminationindependent, the terahertz response of the illuminated samples becomes purely electronic. In some cases, light illumination may switch the qualitative electrodynamic response from hole-like to the electron-like. The cyclotron mass of the electrons could be extracted from the data and shows a square root dependence upon the charge concentration in the broad range of parameters. This can be interpreted as a clear proof of a linear dispersion relations, i.e. Dirac-type charge carriers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Temperature-driven massless Kane fermions in HgCdTe crystals: verification of universal velocity and rest-mass description

It has recently been shown that the electronic states in bulk gapless HgCdTe offer another realization of pseudo-relativistic three-dimensional particles in a condensed matter system. These single valley relativistic states, referred to as massless Kane fermions, cannot be described by any other well-known relativistic massless particles. Furthermore, the HgCdTe band structure can be continuously tailored by modifying either the cadmium content or temperature. At the critical concentration or temperature, the bandgap, Eg, collapses as the system undergoes a semimetal-to-semiconductor topological phase transition between the inverted and normal alignments. Here, using far-infrared magneto-spectroscopy we explore the continuous evolution of band structure of bulk HgCdTe as temperature is tuned across the topological phase transition. We demonstrate that the rest-mass of the Dirac-like Kane fermions, m changes sign at the critical temperature, while their velocity, c remains constant. The relation Eg = 2mc2 with the universal value of c = (1.07 +- 0.05)10x6 m/s remains valid in a broad range of temperatures and Cd concentrations, indicating a striking universality of the pseudo-relativistic description of the Dirac-like Kane fermions in HgCdTe.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Andreev reflection at the edge of a two-dimentional semimetal

We investigate electron transport through the interface between a niobium superconductor and the edge of a two-dimensional semimetal, realized in a 20~nm wide HgTe quantum well. Experimentally, we observe that typical behavior of a single Andreev contact is complicated by both a pronounced zero-bias resistance anomaly and shallow subgap resistance oscillations with $1/n$ periodicity. These results are demonstrated to be independent of the superconducting material and should be regarded as specific to a 2D semimetal in a proximity with a superconductor. We interpret these effects to originate from the Andreev-like correlated process at the edge of a two-dimensional semimetal.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Spin-orbit splitting of valence and conduction bands in HgTe quantum wells near the Dirac point

Energy spectra both of the conduction and valence bands of the HgTe quantum wells with a width close to the Dirac point were studied experimentally. Simultaneous analysis of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and Hall effect over a wide range of electron and hole densities gives surprising result: the top of the valence band is strongly split by spin-orbit interaction while the splitting of the conduction band is absent, within experimental accuracy. Astonishingly, but such a ratio of the splitting values is observed as for structures with normal spectrum so for structures with inverted one. These results do not consistent with the results of kP calculations, in which the smooth electric filed across the quantum well is only reckoned in. It is shown that taking into account the asymmetry of the quantum well interfaces within a tight-binding method gives reasonable agreement with the experimental data.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Probing quantum capacitance in a 3D topological insulator

We measure the quantum capacitance and probe thus directly the electronic density of states of the high mobility, Dirac type of two-dimensional electron system, which forms on the surface of strained HgTe. Here we show that observed magneto-capacitance oscillations probe, in contrast to magnetotransport, primarily the top surface. Capacitance measurements constitute thus a powerful tool to probe only one topological surface and to reconstruct its Landau level spectrum for different positions of the Fermi energy.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Magnetotransport in Double Quantum Well with Inverted Energy Spectrum: HgTe/CdHgTe

We present the first experimental study of the double-quantum-well (DQW) system made of 2D layers with inverted energy band spectrum: HgTe. The magnetotransport reveals a considerably larger overlap of the conduction and valence subbands than in known HgTe single quantum wells (QW), which may be regulated by an applied gate voltage $V_g$. This large overlap manifests itself in a much higher critical field $B_c$ separating the range above it where the quantum peculiarities shift linearly with $V_g$ and the range below with a complicated behavior. In the latter case the $N$-shaped and double-$N$-shaped structures in the Hall magnetoresistance $ρ_{xy}(B)$ are observed with their scale in field pronouncedly enlarged as compared to the pictures observed in an analogous single QW. The coexisting electrons and holes were found in the whole investigated range of positive and negative $V_g$ as revealed from fits to the low-field $N$-shaped $ρ_{xy}(B)$ and from the Fourier analysis of oscillations in $ρ_{xx}(B)$. A peculiar feature here is that the found electron density $n$ remains almost constant in the whole range of investigated $V_g$ while the hole density $p$ drops down from the value a factor of 6 larger than $n$ at extreme negative $V_g$ to almost zero at extreme positive $V_g$ passing through the charge neutrality point. We show that this difference between $n$ and $p$ stems from an order of magnitude larger density of states for holes in the lateral valence band maxima than for electrons in the conduction band minimum. We interpret the observed reentrant sign-alternating $ρ_{xy}(B)$ between electronic and hole conductivities and its zero resistivity state in the quantum Hall range of fields on the basis of a calculated picture of magnetic levels in a DQW.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Evidence on the macroscopic length scale spin coherence for the edge currents in a narrow HgTe quantum well

We experimentally investigate spin-polarized electron transport between two ferromagnetic contacts, placed at the edge of a two-dimensional electron system with band inversion. The system is realized in a narrow (8~nm) HgTe quantum well, the ferromagnetic side contacts are formed from a pre-magnetized permalloy film. In zero magnetic field, we find a significant edge current contribution to the transport between two ferromagnetic contacts. We experimentally demonstrate that this transport is sensitive to the mutual orientation of the magnetization directions of two 200~$μ$m-spaced ferromagnetic leads. This is a direct experimental evidence on the spin-coherent edge transport over the macroscopic distances. Thus, the spin is extremely robust at the edge of a two-dimensional electron system with band inversion, confirming the helical spin-resolved nature of edge currents.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Shot noise of the edge transport in the inverted band HgTe quantum wells

We investigate the current noise in HgTe-based quantum wells with an inverted band structure in the regime of disordered edge transport. Consistent with previous experiments, the edge resistance strongly exceeds $h/e^2$ and weakly depends on the temperature. The shot noise is well below the Poissonian value and characterized by the Fano factor with gate voltage and sample to sample variations in the range $0.1<F<0.3$. Given the fact that our devices are shorter than the most pessimistic estimate of the ballistic dephasing length, these observations exclude the possibility of one-dimensional helical edge transport. Instead, we suggest that a disordered multi-mode conduction is responsible for the edge transport in our experiment.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Persistence of two-dimensional topological insulator state in wide HgTe quantum well

Our experimental studies of electron transport in wide (14 nm) HgTe quantum wells confirm persistence of a two-dimensional topological insulator state reported previously for narrower wells, where it was justified theoretically. Comparison of local and nonlocal resistance measurements indicate edge state transport in the samples of about 1 mm size at temperatures below 1 K. Temperature dependence of the resistances suggests an insulating gap of the order of a few meV. In samples with sizes smaller than 10 $μ$m a quasiballistic transport via the edge states is observed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Cyclotron Resonance Assisted Photocurrents in Surface States of a 3D Topological Insulator Based on a Strained High Mobility HgTe Film

We report on the observation of cyclotron resonance induced photocurrents, excited by continuous wave terahertz radiation, in a 3D topological insulator (TI) based on an 80 nm strained HgTe film. The analysis of the photocurrent formation is supported by complimentary measurements of magneto-transport and radiation transmission. We demonstrate that the photocurrent is generated in the topologically protected surface states. Studying the resonance response in a gated sample we examined the behavior of the photocurrent, which enables us to extract the mobility and the cyclotron mass as a function of the Fermi energy. For high gate voltages we also detected cyclotron resonance (CR) of bulk carriers, with a mass about two times larger than that obtained for the surface states. The origin of the CR assisted photocurrent is discussed in terms of asymmetric scattering of TI surface carriers in the momentum space. Furthermore, we show that studying the photocurrent in gated samples provides a sensitive method to probe the effective masses and the mobility of 2D Dirac surface states, when the Fermi level lies in the bulk energy gap or even in the conduction band.

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