Conductance fluctuations and disorder induced $\nu=0$ quantum Hall plateau in topological insulator nanowires

TL;DR

This paper investigates how disorder in topological insulator nanowires induces a zero Hall plateau near the Dirac point, contrasting with clean systems, through numerical conductance analysis and fluctuation studies.

Contribution

It reveals the emergence of a disorder-induced zero Hall plateau in topological insulator nanowires and analyzes its dependence on system parameters.

Findings

Disorder induces a zero Hall plateau near the Dirac point.

Conductance fluctuations reveal the insulating phase's dependence on system parameters.

Numerical simulations show the broad energy window of the zero Hall plateau.

Abstract

Clean topological insulators exposed to a magnetic field develop Landau levels accompanied by a nonzero Hall conductivity for the infinite slab geometry. In this work we consider the case of disordered topological insulator nanowires and find, in contrast, that a zero Hall plateau emerges within a broad energy window close to the Dirac point. We numerically calculate the conductance and its distribution for a statistical ensemble of disordered nanowires, and use the conductance fluctuations to study the dependence of the insulating phase on system parameters, such as the nanowire length, disorder strength and the magnetic field.