Spin-pumping and inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy in topological insulators

TL;DR

This paper explores how quantum spin Hall currents in topological insulators can induce spin-pumping in magnetic impurities, affecting their inelastic tunneling spectra and enabling electrical control of impurity spins without magnetic fields.

Contribution

It demonstrates electrical manipulation of impurity spins via spin-pumping in topological insulators and reveals how this influences inelastic electron tunneling spectra.

Findings

Low current densities suppress conductance steps at spin excitation voltages.

High current densities induce spin pumping, breaking topological phase and restoring conductance steps.

Quantum spin Hall edge states enable electrical control of impurity spins without magnetic fields.

Abstract

We demonstrate that a quantum spin Hall current, spontaneously generated at the edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator, acts as a source of spin-pumping for a magnetic impurity with uniaxial anisotropy. One can then manipulate the impurity spin direction by means of an electrical current without using either magnetic electrodes or an external magnetic field. Furthermore we show that the unique properties of the quantum spin Hall topological state have profound effects on the inelastic electron tunneling spectrum of the impurity. For low current densities inelastic spin-flip events do not contribute to the conductance. As a consequence the conductance steps, normally appearing at voltages corresponding to the spin excitations, are completely suppressed. In contrast an intense current leads to spin pumping and generates a transverse component of the impurity spin. This breaks the topological phase yielding to the conductance steps.