Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells

2006/11/15 by B. Andrei Bernevig, Taylor L. Hughes, Shou-Cheng Zhang · 13 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1133734

published as Science, 314, 1757 (2006) · 22 pages. Submitted to Science for publication on Aug 14, 2006

arxiv created 2006/11/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01

Abstract

We show that the Quantum Spin Hall Effect, a state of matter with topological properties distinct from conventional insulators, can be realized in HgTe/CdTe semiconductor quantum wells. By varying the thickness of the quantum well, the electronic state changes from a normal to an "inverted" type at a critical thickness d_c. We show that this transition is a topological quantum phase transition between a conventional insulating phase and a phase exhibiting the QSH effect with a single pair of helical edge states. We also discuss the methods for experimental detection of the QSH effect.

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