Quantum Spin Hall Effect in IV-VI Topological Crystalline Insulators

TL;DR

This paper predicts the quantum spin Hall effect in thin films of SnSe and SnTe topological crystalline insulators, showing that specific thicknesses induce a two-dimensional topological insulator phase with characteristic edge states.

Contribution

It demonstrates the emergence of quantum spin Hall effect in (111)-oriented SnSe and SnTe films through tight-binding and first-principles calculations, identifying optimal thickness ranges.

Findings

Topological insulator phase appears in 20-40 monolayer films.

Edge states with Dirac cones and opposite spin polarization are predicted.

Different Dirac cone configurations are found in SnSe and SnTe layers.

Abstract

We envision that quantum spin Hall effect should be observed in $(111)$-oriented thin films of SnSe and SnTe topological crystalline insulators. Using a tight-binding approach supported by first-principles calculations of the band structures we demonstrate that in these films the energy gaps in the two-dimensional band spectrum depend in an oscillatory fashion on the layer thickness. These results as well as the calculated topological invariant indexes and edge state spin polarizations show that for films ~20-40 monolayers thick a two-dimensional topological insulator phase appears. In this range of thicknesses in both, SnSe and SnTe, (111)-oriented films edge states with Dirac cones with opposite spin polarization in their two branches are obtained. While in the SnTe layers a single Dirac cone appears at the projection of the G point of the two-dimensional Brillouin zone, in the SnSe (111)-oriented layers three Dirac cones at M points projections are predicted.