The topological Anderson insulator phase in the Kane-Mele model

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the topological Anderson insulator phase, initially observed in specific models, is a more universal phenomenon that also occurs in the Kane-Mele model, expanding potential material candidates.

Contribution

It shows the topological Anderson insulator appears in the Kane-Mele model and identifies key parameters, including the necessity of a staggered sublattice potential, for its realization.

Findings

Topological Anderson insulator exists in the Kane-Mele model.

A staggered sublattice potential is necessary for the phase.

Born approximation matches numerical results for weak disorder.

Abstract

It has been proposed that adding disorder to a topologically trivial mercury telluride/cadmium telluride (HgTe/CdTe) quantum well can induce a transition to a topologically nontrivial state. The resulting state was termed topological Anderson insulator and was found in computer simulations of the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model. Here, we show that the topological Anderson insulator is a more universal phenomenon and also appears in the Kane-Mele model of topological insulators on a honeycomb lattice. We numerically investigate the interplay of the relevant parameters, and establish the parameter range in which the topological Anderson insulator exists. A staggered sublattice potential turns out to be a necessary condition for the transition to the topological Anderson insulator. For weak enough disorder, a calculation based on the lowest-order Born approximation reproduces quantitatively the numerical data. Our results thus considerably increase the number of candidate materials for the topological Anderson insulator phase.