Weak (anti-)localization in doped Z_2-topological insulator

TL;DR

This paper investigates the localization behavior of doped Z_2-topological insulators using weak localization theory, revealing how topological mass, inter-valley scattering, and spin-orbit interactions influence localization phenomena.

Contribution

It demonstrates how the topological mass term affects localization class and how Rashba spin-orbit interaction can induce weak anti-localization in doped topological insulators.

Findings

Topological mass term leads to unitary behavior without magnetic field.

Inter-valley scattering with topological mass maintains unitary class.

Rashba spin-orbit interaction causes weak anti-localization in the presence of inter-valley scattering.

Abstract

Localization properties of the doped Z_2-topological insulator are studied by weak localization theory. The disordered Kane-Mele model for graphene is taken as a prototype, and analyzed with attention to effects of the topological mass term, inter-valley scattering, and the Rashba spin-orbit interaction. The known tendency of graphene to anti-localize in the absence of inter-valley scattering between K and K' points is naturally placed as the massless limit of Kane-Mele model. The latter is shown to have a unitary behavior even in the absence of magnetic field due to the topological mass term. When inter-valley scattering is introduced, the topological mass term leaves the system in the unitary class, whereas the ordinary mass term, which appears if A and B sublattices are inequivalent, turns the system to weak localization. The Rashba spin-orbit interaction in the presence of K-K' scattering drive the system to weak anti-localization in sharp contrast to the ideal graphene case.