Interface symmetry and spin control in topological insulator-semiconductor heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper investigates how interface symmetry influences the electronic and spin properties of heterostructures combining topological insulators and semiconductors, revealing unique spin textures and potential experimental signatures.

Contribution

It introduces a general effective Hamiltonian for SE-TI interfaces and demonstrates how interface symmetry controls the properties of interface states.

Findings

SE-TI interface states have elliptical constant energy contours.

Complex spin textures with broken helicity are observed.

Experimental signatures include out-of-plane spin accumulation and spectral gap dependence on magnetic field direction.

Abstract

Heterostructures combining topological and non-topological materials constitute the next frontier in the effort to incorporate topological insulators (TIs) into functional electronic devices. We show that the properties of the interface states appearing at the planar boundary between a topologically-trivial semiconductor (SE) and a TI are controlled by the symmetry of the interface. In contrast to the well-studied helical Dirac surface states, SE-TI interface states exhibit elliptical contours of constant energy and complex spin textures with broken helicity. We derive a general effective Hamiltonian for SE-TI junctions, and propose experimental signatures such as an out of plane spin accumulation under a transport current and the opening of a spectral gap that depends on the direction of an applied in-plane magnetic field.