Spin Current Density Functional Theory of the Quantum Spin-Hall Phase

TL;DR

This paper extends density functional theory to include spin currents, applying it to the quantum spin-Hall phase in Bi bilayers, revealing improved electronic structure predictions and key features like Dirac cones at topological transitions.

Contribution

The paper introduces the application of spin current density functional theory (SCDFT) to the quantum spin-Hall phase, demonstrating its advantages over standard DFT in describing topological insulators.

Findings

SCDFT qualitatively improves electronic structure predictions.

Explicit spin current treatment reveals Dirac cone at phase transition.

Band structure analyzed with a simple perturbation model.

Abstract

The spin current density functional theory (SCDFT) is the generalization of the standard DFT to treat a fermionic system embedded in the effective external field produced by the spin-orbit coupling interaction. Even in the absence of a spin polarization, the SCDFT requires the electron-electron potential to depend on the spin currents $\mathbf{J}^x$, $\mathbf{J}^y$ and $\mathbf{J}^z$, which only recently was made possible for practical relativistic quantum-mechanical simulations [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 102}, 235118 (2020)]. Here, we apply the SCDFT to the quantum spin-Hall phase and show how it improves (even qualitatively) the description of its electronic structure relative to the DFT. We study the Bi (001) 2D bilayer and its band insulator to topological insulator phase transition (via $s+p_z \leftrightarrow p_x +ip_y$ band inversion) as a function of mechanical strain. We show that the explicit account of spin currents in the electron-electron potential of the SCDFT is key to the appearance of a Dirac cone at the $\Gamma$ point in the valence band structure at the onset of the topological phase transition. Finally, the valence band structure of this system is rationalized using a simple first-order $\mathbf{k} \cdot \mathbf{p}$ quasi-degenerate perturbation theory model.