Signatures of Topological Phase Transition in 3d Topological Insulators from Dynamical Axion Response

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamical axion response in 3d topological insulators, identifying an order parameter for the topological phase transition through susceptibility calculations, which can be experimentally verified.

Contribution

It introduces a novel dynamical current susceptibility as an order parameter for topological phase transitions in 3d topological insulators, linking theory with potential experimental detection.

Findings

Discovered a static limit of susceptibility as an order parameter for phase transition.

Identified a sign-changing singularity at a critical frequency in the susceptibility.

Proposed experimental verification via current noise measurements.

Abstract

Axion electrodynamics, first proposed in the context of particle physics, manifests itself in condensed matter physics in the topological field theory description of 3d topological insulators and gives rise to magnetoelectric effect, where applying magnetic (electric) field $\mathbf{B}(\mathbf{E})$ induces polarization (magnetization) $\mathbf{p}(\mathbf{m})$. We use linear response theory to study the associated topological current using the Fu-Kane-Mele model of 3d topological insulators in the presence of time-dependent uniform weak magnetic field. By computing the dynamical current susceptibility $\chi^{\mathbf{j}_p\mathbf{j}_p}_{ij}(\omega)$, we discover from its static limit an `order parameter' of the topological phase transition between weak topological (or ordinary) insulator and strong topological insulator, found to be continuous. The $\chi^{\mathbf{j}_p\mathbf{j}_p}_{ij}(\omega)$ shows a sign-changing singularity at a critical frequency with suppressed strength in the topological insulating state. Our results can be verified in current noise experiment on 3d TI candidate materials for the detection of such topological phase transition.