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Magnetic topological insulator, a platform for realizing quantum anomalous Hall effect, axion state, and other novel quantum transport phenomena, has attracted a lot of interest. Recently, it is proposed that MnBi2Te4 is an intrinsic magnetic topological insulator, which may overcome the disadvantages in the magnetic doped topological insulator, such as disorder. Here we report on the gate-reserved anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in the MnBi2Te4 thin film. By tuning the Fermi level using the top/bottom gate, the AHE loop gradually decreases to zero and the sign is reversed. The positive AHE exhibits distinct coercive fields compared with the negative AHE. It reaches a maximum inside the gap of the Dirac cone, and its amplitude exhibits a linear scaling with the longitudinal conductance. The positive AHE is attributed to the competition of the intrinsic Berry curvature and the extrinsic skew scattering. Its gate-controlled switching contributes a scheme for the topological spin field-effect transistors.

Kondo effect is a prominent quantum phenomenon describing the many-body screening of a local magnetic impurity. Here, we reveal a new type of non-magnetic Kondo behavior generated by gauge fluctuations in strongly-correlated baths. We show that a non-magnetic bond defect not only introduces the potential scattering but also locally enhances the gauge fluctuations. The local gauge fluctuations further mediate a pseudospin exchange interaction that produces an asymmetric Kondo fixed point in low-energy. The gauge-fluctuation-induced Kondo phenomena do not exhibit the characteristic resistivity behavior of conventional Kondo effect, but display a non-monotonous temperature dependence of thermal conductivity as well as an anisotropic pseudospin correlation. Moreover, with its origin from gauge fluctuations, the Kondo features can be regarded as promising indicators for identifying quantum spin liquids. Our work advances fundamental knowledge of novel Kondo phenomena in strongly-correlated systems, which have no counterparts in thermal baths within the single-particle description., 14 pages, 5 figures, PRL in press

Critical transition points between symmetry-broken phases are usually characterized as fixed points in the renormalization group (RG) theory. We show that, following the standard Wilsonian procedure that iteratively traces out the large-momentum modes, this well-known fact can easily break down in non-Hermitian systems under open boundary conditions. Based on non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger-type models, we propose a RG scheme based on real-space decimation. We provide concrete examples and an analytic proof to show that the real-space scheme always respects the critical points under RG transformations. We investigate the correlation length of order parameters in the vicinity of critical points. Its divergence and scaling behavior remain intact under the real-space decimation, indicating that our method can be successfully applied to study the critical phenomena in non-Hermitian systems. These results suggest that the real-space RG method will find versatile applications in interacting non-Hermitian quantum systems.

The scaling physics of quantum Hall transport in optimized topological insulators with a plateau precision of $\ensuremath{\sim}1/1000\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{e}^{2}/h$ is considered. Two exponential scaling regimes are observed in temperature-dependent transport dissipation, one of which accords with thermal-activation behavior with a gap of 2.8 meV (g20 K), the other being attributed to variable-range hopping (1--20 K). Magnetic-field-driven plateau-to-plateau transition gives scaling relations of ${(d{R}_{xy}/dB)}^{max}\ensuremath{\propto}{T}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\kappa}}$ and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{B}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\ensuremath{\propto}{T}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\kappa}}$ with a consistent exponent of \ensuremath{\kappa} \ensuremath{\sim} 0.2, which is half the universal value for a conventional two-dimensional electron gas. This is evidence of percolation assisted by quantum tunneling and reveals the dominance of electron-electron interaction of the topological surface states.

Excitonic insulators are insulating states formed by the coherent condensation of electron and hole pairs into BCS-like states. Isotropic spatial wave functions are commonly considered for excitonic condensates since the attractive interaction among the electrons and the holes in semiconductors usually leads to s-wave excitons. Here, we propose a new type of excitonic insulator that exhibits order parameter with p + ip symmetry and is characterized by a chiral Chern number Cc = 1/2. This state displays the parity anomaly, which results in two novel topological properties: fractionalized excitations with e/2 charge at defects and a spontaneous in-plane magnetization. The topological insulator surface state is a promising platform to realize the topological excitonic insulator. With the spin-momentum locking, the interband optical pumping can renormalize the surface electrons and drive the system towards the proposed p + ip instability., Exotic states can be stabilized in strongly-correlated systems with non-trivial topological properties. Here, Wang et al. propose a topological p-wave excitonic insulator characterized by a chiral Chern number 1/2.

We develop an approach to describe antiferromagnetic magnons on a bipartite lattice supporting the N\'eel state using fractionalized degrees of freedom typically inherent to quantum spin liquids. In particular, we consider a long-range magnetically ordered state of interacting two-dimensional quantum spin-$1/2$ XY models using the Chern-Simons (CS) fermion representation of interacting spins. The interaction leads to Cooper instability and pairing of CS fermions, and to CS superconductivity which spontaneously violates the continuous $\mathrm{U}(1)$ symmetry generating a linearly dispersing gapless Nambu-Goldstone mode due to phase fluctuations. We evaluate this mode and show that it is in high-precision agreement with magnons of the corresponding N\'eel antiferromagnet irrespective to the lattice symmetry. Using the fermion formulation of the system with frustration, we show that the competing interactions emerge in the form of long-range interaction vertices mediated by the CS gauge field, which are responsible for restoring the continuous symmetry at sufficiently strong frustration. We identify these new interaction vertices and discuss their implications for unconventional phase transitions. We also apply the proposed theory to a model of anyons that can be tuned continuously from fermions to bosons, and discuss the results.

In this Letter, we first formulate an effective theory, which generally captures long-range proximity effects of a surface system weakly coupled to an s-wave superconductor. The long-range proximity effects include both the emergent long-range pairing and hopping interactions in the surface system. We then model the Rashba spin-orbit-coupled nanowire in proximity with an s-wave superconductor by taking into account the emergent nonlocal effects in the weak-coupling limit. In this limit the induced superconducting pair potential is found much smaller than that of the host superconductor, which is in good agreement with recent experiments. Compared with the previously considered strong coupling limit with local proximity effects, the long-range interactions can significantly modify the topological phase diagram, and considerably lower the threshold magnetic field for the emergence of Majorana zero modes., 9 pages, 3 figures

We address the long-term controversy on the fundamental question of the role of the surface state on the Kondo effect with Co adatoms on a Ag(111) surface. The width of the Kondo resonance oscillates with the same period of half Fermi wavelength of the surface state. But the amplitude increases for a Co adatom placed next to another Co adatom, at the vicinity of a step edge, and quantum confined within nanocorrals. A greater than three times enhancement of the resonance width can be achieved when quantum confinement is introduced. The experimental results are described quantitatively utilizing an analytical model where the contributions of the bulk and surface states are weighted by their exchange values with the magnetic impurity. These findings clarify the role of the surface state on the Kondo effect and pave a pathway to tailor the Kondo effect via quantum confinement of the surface state.

We study the Kondo physics of a quantum magnetic impurity in two-dimensional topological superconductors (TSCs), either intrinsic or induced on the surface of a bulk topological insulator, using a numerical renormalization group technique. We show that, despite sharing the p + ip pairing symmetry, intrinsic and extrinsic TSCs host different physical processes that produce distinct Kondo signatures. Extrinsic TSCs harbor an unusual screening mechanism involving both electron and orbital degrees of freedom that produces rich and prominent Kondo phenomena, especially an intriguing pseudospin Kondo singlet state in the superconducting gap and a spatially anisotropic spin correlation. In sharp contrast, intrinsic TSCs support a robust impurity spin doublet ground state and an isotropic spin correlation. These findings advance fundamental knowledge of novel Kondo phenomena in TSCs and suggest experimental avenues for their detection and distinction.

Recently, the Majorana fermion has received great attentions due to its promising application in the fault-tolerant quantum computation. This application requires more accessible methods to detect the motion and braiding of the Majorana fermions. We use a Luttinger liquid ring to achieve this goal, where the ring geometry is nontrivial in the sense that it leads to fermion-parity-dependent topological excitations. First, we briefly review the essential physics of the Luttinger liquid and the Majorana fermion, in order to give an introduction of the general framework used in the following main work. Then, we theoretically investigated the DC Josephson effect between two topological superconductors via a Luttinger liquid ring. A low-energy effective Hamiltonian is derived to show the existence of the fractional Josephson current. Also, we find that the amplitude of the Josephson current, which is determined by the correlation function of Luttinger liquid, exhibits different behaviors in terms of the parity of Luttinger liquid due to the topological excitations. Our results suggest a possible method to detect the Majorana fermions and their tunneling process.

Dirac Fermions with different helicities exist on the top and bottom surfaces of topological insulators, offering a rare opportunity to break the degeneracy protected by the no-go theorem. Through the application of Co clusters, quantum Hall plateaus were modulated for the topological insulator BiSbTeSe2, allowing an optimized surface transport. Here, using renormalization group flow diagrams, we show the extraction of two sets of converging points in the conductivity tensor space, revealing that the top surface exhibits an anomalous quantization trajectory, while the bottom surface retains the 1/2 quantization. Co clusters are believed to induce a sizeable Zeeman gap ( > 4.8 meV) through antiferromagnetic exchange coupling, which delays the Landau level hybridization on the top surface for a moderate magnetic field. A quasi-half-integer plateau also appears at −7.2 Tesla. This allows us to study the interesting physics of parity anomaly, and paves the way for further studies simulating exotic particles in condensed matter physics., The topological surface states usually appear in pairs in a topological insulator, with one on the top surface and the other on the bottom surface. Here, Zhang et al. utilize Co cluster to induce a Zeeman gap on one surface through antiferromagnetic exchange coupling, and observe a quasi-half-integer plateau, suggesting the parity anomaly of Dirac fermions.

Single-particle sequential tunneling is studied through a negative-U center hybridized with a superconducting, a ferromagnetic, and a normal metal electrodes. In stark contrast to the case of positive U, the single-particle tunneling in attractive charging energy is usually prohibited by ground states with electrons in pairs. We find a microscopic mechanism to induce single-particle sates from pair states. As a consequence, in the nonpolarized metal terminal a remarkable pure spin current with no charge currents survives over a wide range of gate- and bias-voltages, which is rather crucial for experimental observation and design of spintronic devices. In addition, a significant spin-filter effect is presented in certain bias regime.

Recently, the picture of type-II energy dispersion with broken Lorentz invariance has been adapted from Weyl to Dirac fermions. It is demonstrated in PdTe${}_{2}$ in this paper by extensive evidence from electrical transport, de Haas--van Alphen oscillations, first-principles calculations, and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The type-II Dirac cone looks like a pinnacle in momentum space. It may be cut by the Fermi level with the result of a pair of Dirac pockets (of $p$/$n$ type), whose sizes change dramatically with the Fermi level. The nontrivial Berry phase of the hole pocket is also displayed. This also means a nonvanishing density of states in the whole Dirac cones, which makes PdTe${}_{2}$ an improved platform for possible topological superconductors and Majorana fermions

We investigate the spin-dependent tunneling transport in a heterostructure with two single molecular magnets (SMMs). The tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) and negative differential conductance due to the strong resonant tunneling in the junction are demonstrated by the master equation approach. At low bias voltage, the device presents low/high resistant states with the initial states of the single molecular magnets parallel/antiparallel. Strong Coulomb repulsive interaction suppresses the current greatly in antiparallel situation. At high voltage, the middle system containing two SMMs tends to be non-polarized, and acts like ordinary quantum dots.

Members of the Mo${}_{x}$W${}_{1-x}$Te${}_{2}$ series are predicted to be Weyl semimetals, hosting type-II Weyl fermions, which have yet to be experimentally realized and which are unusual because they strongly violate Lorentz invariance. Crucially, the Weyl points in this system are predicted to sit above the Fermi level. Here, the authors show that for a type-II Weyl cone, although not for a type-I Weyl cone, if the Weyl point is above the Fermi level, then it's necessary to see the band structure above the Fermi level to observe a topological Fermi arc. The authors also discover that pump-probe angle-resolved photoemission beautifully displays the unoccupied band structure in Mo${}_{x}$W${}_{1-x}$Te${}_{2}$. Their work sets the stage for demonstrating that this system is the first type-II Weyl semimetal, as well as the first tunable Weyl semimetal.

We investigate the Kondo effect in a two-dimensional electron system with a nontrivial quadratic energy band crossing point. We show that the Kondo effect can induce a hybrid topological insulator phase, which is a coexistence state of the quantum anomalous Hall effect and the time-reversal-symmetry-broken quantum spin Hall effect. This hybrid topological insulator exhibits not only a quantized charge Hall current but also a net spin current, which are localized at the edge boundaries. This peculiar topological state arises due to the interplay of two marginally relevant operators, i.e., the Kondo coupling between the electrons and the local magnetic moment and the electron-electron interaction in the two-dimensional system.

Anyons have recently received great attention due to their promising application in topological quantum computation. The best validated system that enjoys the anyonic excitations are the Laughlin states. The quasi-particles in Laughlin states are neither fermions nor bosons but possess the discrete statistical angle θ = π/m, with m being an integer. Here we report a possible realization of the universal Abelian anyons, whose statistical angle can be tuned continuously by external parameters and can take any arbitrary values interpolating θ = 0 and θ = π. The proposed setup is the surface state of a three dimensional topological insulator driven by an amplitude-modulated circularly-polarized light. It is found that the external field leads to a particular Floquet phase, which is a two-spatial-dimensional analogy of the Weyl semimetal phase in the Floquet first Brillouin zone. The chiral anomaly of this phase results in a U(1) Chern-Simons gauge theory with a tunable Floquet Chern number. Owing to this underlying gauge field theory, the irradiated surface of topological insulator constitutes a promising platform for the observation of the universal anyons.

Recently, it has been theoretically predicted that Cd3As2 is a three dimensional Dirac material, a new topological phase discovered after topological insulators, which exhibits a linear energy dispersion in the bulk with massless Dirac fermions. Here, we report on the low-temperature magnetoresistance measurements on a ~50 nm-thick Cd3As2 film. The weak antilocalization under perpendicular magnetic field is discussed based on the two-dimensional Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka (HLN) theory. The electron-electron interaction is addressed as the source of the dephasing based on the temperature-dependent scaling behavior. The weak antilocalization can be also observed while the magnetic field is parallel to the electric field due to the strong interaction between the different conductance channels in this quasi-two-dimensional film.

The progress in exploiting new electronic materials and devices has been a major driving force in solid-state physics. As a new state of matter, a Weyl semimetal (WSM), particularly a type-II WSM, hosts Weyl fermions as emergent quasiparticles and may harbor novel electrical transport properties because of the exotic Fermi surface. Nevertheless, such a type-II WSM material has not been experimentally observed in nature. In this work, by performing systematic magneto-transport studies on thin films of a predicted material candidate WTe2, we observe notable angle-sensitive (between the electric and magnetic fields) negative longitudinal magnetoresistance (MR), which can likely be attributed to the chiral anomaly in WSM. This phenomenon also exhibits strong planar orientation dependence with the absence of negative longitudinal MR along the tungsten chains (a axis), which is consistent with the distinctive feature of a type-II WSM. By applying a gate voltage, we demonstrate that the Fermi energy can be tuned through the Weyl points via the electric field effect; this is the first report of controlling the unique transport properties in situ in a WSM system. Our results have important implications for investigating simulated quantum field theory in solid-state systems and may open opportunities for implementing new types of electronic applications, such as field-effect chiral electronic devices., Comment: accepted by Nature Communications; 27 pages, 3 figures, 9 supplementary figures; submitted on May 1st, 2016

We theoretically study the quantum anomalies in the superconducting Weyl metals based on the topological field theory. It is demonstrated that the Fermi arc and the surface Andreev bound state, characteristic of the superconducting Weyl metals, are the manifestations of two underlying phenomena, namely, the chiral anomaly and the paritylike anomaly, respectively. The first anomaly is inherited from the Berry curvature around the original Weyl points, while the second is the result of the superconductivity. We show that all the fascinating topological behavior of the superconducting Weyl metals, either the intranode Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov or the internode Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing state, can be satisfactorily described and predicted by our topological field theory.

We report the low-temperature magneto-transport in the bulk-insulating single crystal of topological insulator Sn doped Bi1.1Sb0.9Te2S. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations appear with their reciprocal frequency proportional to cos θ, demonstrating the dominant transport of topological surface states. While the magnetic field rotates on the sample surface, the planar Hall effect arises with sizeable oscillations following a relation of cos θ sin θ. Its amplitude reaches the maximum at the lowest temperature and drops to nearly zero at temperature higher than 100 K. All these evidences consolidate such planar Hall oscillations as another golden criterion on the topological surface transport.

We extract the conductance fluctuations and study their magnetic field dependence in the gate-dependent transport of topological electrons in bulk-insulating BiSbTeSe2 devices. With the increasing magnetic field, the conductance fluctuation magnitudes are found to reduce by a ratio of 2 and form a quantized step. The step is observed both in n-type and p-type transport. This is related to the breaking of the time reversal symmetry of three-dimensional topological insulators.

We numerically investigate an isolated hybrid ring consisting of two segments, one is an s-wave superconductor and the other is two dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin–orbit interaction. Considering an Aharonov–Bohm flux through the hole of the ring, we calculate the elementary excitation spectrum and the persistent current at zero temperature and finite temperature. It is found that there is a competition between superconducting pair potential and Rashba spin–orbit interaction. At zero temperature the competition is mainly determined by the length of the superconducting segment d S . When the superconducting segment is short, quasi-particles is easy to tunnel through the superconducting segment and Rashba spin–orbit interaction effect is dominant which results in the elementary excitation spectrum splits and the persistent current obtains an additional peak. On the contrary, when the superconducting segment is long enough, the quasi-particles are difficult to tunnel through the superconducting segment and they enter the superconducting segment via Andreev reflection process. In this case Rashba spin–orbit interaction does not cause the split of the elementary excitation spectrum inside the energy gap, and thus the persistent current has no additional peak. At finite temperature, when the superconducting segment is short, although the spin split effect still exists, the peak of the persistent current resulting from Rashba spin–orbit interaction gradually disappears as the temperature rises.

We investigate the effect of spin-inelastic scattering of Dirac electrons off a high-spin nanomagnet adsorbed on a topological insulator (TI) surface, in which transitions of the nanomagnet between its internal magnetic levels are taken into account, beyond the classic spin theory. It is found that the presence of magnetic anisotropy of nanomagnets can result in a Dirac-point resonance peak in local density of states. It can significantly modify the topologically protected Dirac surface-state spectrum at the Dirac point, quite different from previously reported low-energy resonances. Furthermore, we propose to tune electrically the appearance of the Dirac-point resonance peak and its height by use of the spin-flip torque effect. This provides an approach to engineer the Dirac cone and tune the Dirac electron properties on the TI surface in the absence of an external magnetic field.

Tungsten ditelluride has attracted intense research interest due to the recent discovery of its large unsaturated magnetoresistance up to 60 T. Motivated by the presence of a small, sensitive Fermi surface of 5d electronic orbitals, we boost the electronic properties by applying a high pressure, and introduce superconductivity successfully. Superconductivity sharply appears at a pressure of 2.5 GPa, rapidly reaching a maximum critical temperature (Tc) of 7 K at around 16.8 GPa, followed by a monotonic decrease in Tc with increasing pressure, thereby exhibiting the typical dome-shaped superconducting phase. From theoretical calculations, we interpret the low-pressure region of the superconducting dome to an enrichment of the density of states at the Fermi level and attribute the high-pressure decrease in Tc to possible structural instability. Thus, tungsten ditelluride may provide a new platform for our understanding of superconductivity phenomena in transition metal dichalcogenides., Tungsten ditelluride has been recently discovered to possess very large and unsaturated magnetoresistance, up to 60 T. Here the authors apply high pressure on this material and observe a dome-shaped superconducting phase transition.

We investigate the nonequilibrium transport properties of a quantum dot in the normal-metal and superconductor hybrid system, where the Andreev reflection plays the important role. The electron spin-flip effect in quantum dot is explicitly taken into account. By using the nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) approach, we first give a general current formula which is valid for any bias and temperature, then we discuss the linear conductance in terms of the local density of states. The various resonant peaks appear for the different spin-flip strengths in quantum dot. Finally, we numerically calculate the current-bias characteristic when the bias is smaller than the superconductor gap.

We propose the realization of Majorana fermions (MFs) on the edges of a two-dimensional topological insulator in the proximity with s-wave superconductors and in the presence of transverse exchange field h. It is shown that there appear a pair of MFs localized at two junctions and that a reverse in the direction of h can lead to permutation of two MFs. With decreasing h, the MF states can either be fused or form one Dirac fermion on the -junctions, exhibiting a topological phase transition. This characteristic can be used to detect physical states of MFs when they are transformed into Dirac fermions localized on the -junction. A condition of decoupling two MFs is also given.

Topological insulator nanostructures have the larger surface-to-volume ratios than the bulk materials, which enhances the surface state contribution to the electrical transport. Here, we report on the single-crystalline Bi2Se3 narrow nanoribbons synthesized by the chemical vapor deposition method. The surface state induced Aharonov-Bohm effect was observed in the parallel magnetic field. The weak antilocalization (WAL) at various temperatures can be well fitted by the 1D localization theory, and the fitting coherence length is larger than the cross section size of the nanoribbon. The amplitude of WAL after subtracting the bulk background is only dependent on the vertical component of the magnetic field at various angles, revealing the surface nature of WAL. All these signatures indicate the nontrivial surface state transport in our Bi2Se3 narrow nanoribbons.

We present a theoretical analysis of the nonlinear bias and temperature dependence of current-voltage characteristics of a spin-valve device which is formed by connecting a quantum dot to two ferromagnetic electrodes whose magnetic moments orient at an angle $\theta$ with respect to each other. The theory is based on nonequilibrium Green's function approach and focused on current perpendicular to plane geometry. Coulomb interaction has been taken into account explicitly at the Hartree level. We derive a formula in closed form for current flowing through the device in general terms of bias and temperature. In the wideband limit we report exact results for the TMR junction nonlinear I-V curve as a function of $\theta$. We also report the conductance slope at zero bias as a function of temperature for which experimental results reported an anomalous behavior.

For a mesoscopic hybrid system which contains a normal central region coupled to multiple superconducting leads, a general expression of the current is derived by using nonequilibrium-Green-function method. This current formula can be used to describe the case with time-dependent external fields applied to any parts of the system, arbitrarily finite voltages, and any kinds of interactions in the central region. For a normal two-terminal interacting electron system, this expression reduces to the general time-dependent current formula previously obtained by Wingreen et al. [Phys. Rev. B 98, 8487 (1993)]. As an application, we use this current formula to study a special case of a noninteracting single-level central region coupled to two or three superconducting leads, respectively.

We present a solution to the problem of AC current partition in a multi-probe mesoscopic conductor within the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. This allows the derivation of dynamic conductance which is appropriate for nonequilibrium situations and which satisfies the current conservation and gauge invariance requirements. This formalism presents a significant generalization to previous theory: (i) there is no limit in the frequency, and (ii) it allows detailed treatments of interactions in the mesoscopic region. The formalism is applied to calculate dynamic conductance of tunneling structures with and without assuming wideband limit., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We design a spintronic quantum eraser to quantitatively probe the two-electron entanglement. It is shown that the concurrence of two spin-entangled electrons is directly given by the Aharonov-Bohm oscillation amplitude of the Fano factor, a measurable current-current correlation, making it rather promising to experimentally quantify the two-electron entanglement. The singlet and triplet entangled states are distinguished by the opposite signs in the Fano factor. Since the main building blocks in the designed setup, an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer and a spin filter, have already been implemented, our proposal is particularly pertinent to experiments.

The quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect is known to be unstable to perturbations violating time-reversal symmetry. We show that creating a narrow ferromagnetic (FM) region near the edge of a QSH sample can push one of the counterpropagating edge states to the inner boundary of the FM region, and leave the other at the outer boundary, without changing their spin polarizations and propagation directions. Since the two edge states are spatially separated into different "lanes", the QSH effect becomes robust against symmetry-breaking perturbations., 5 pages, 4 figures

Metallic Bi2Te3 crystalline sheets with the room-temperature resistivity of above 10 m{\Omega} cm were prepared and their magnetoresistive transport was measured in a field of up to 9 Tesla. The Shubnikov de Haas oscillations were identified from the secondly-derived magnetoresistance curves. While changing the angle between the field and normal axis of the sheets, we find that the oscillation periods present a cosine dependence on the angle. This indicates a two-dimensional transport due to the surface state. The work reveals a resolvable surface contribution to the overall conduction even in a metallic topological insulator., Comment: accepted by EPJD, 2013

The electron-hole conversion at the normal-metal superconductor interface in inversion-symmetric Weyl semimetals is investigated with an effective two-band model. We find that the specular Andreev reflection of Weyl fermions has two unusual features. The Andreev conductance for s-wave BCS pairing states is anisotropic, depending on the angle between the line connecting a pair of Weyl points and the normal of the junction, due to opposite chirality carried by the paired electrons. For the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov pairing states, the Andreev reflection spectrum is isotropic and is independent of the finite momentum of the Cooper pairs.

We theoretically put forward a spin injector, which consists of a three-terminal ferromagnetic-metal (FM) nonmagnetic-semiconductor (NS)-superconductor (SC) mesoscopic hybrid system. This device can inject not only the spin-up current but also the pure spin current into the NS lead. The crossed Andreev reflection plays a key role in this device. Such a spin injector may be realized within the reach of the present-day technology.

The interaction effect between the surface states of a topological insulator (TI) and a STM-coupled Anderson impurity is studied by using equations of motion of the Green's functions. Remarkably, we show that when a coupling between the Anderson impurity and the STM tip is included, the tunneling resonance and the Kondo peak can be tuned to be exactly at the Dirac point, by adjusting the impurity level and Fermi energy, such that the local density of states at the Dirac point is significantly enhanced. This is in contrast to the case of a STM-decoupled Anderson impurity, where both resonances are always fully suppressed at the Dirac point. Our finding suggests a pathway to experimentally control the fundamental properties of the electrons on a TI surface.

The universal conductance fluctuations (UCFs), one of the most important manifestations of mesoscopic electronic interference, have not yet been demonstrated for the two-dimensional surface state of topological insulators (TIs). Even if one delicately suppresses the bulk conductance by improving the quality of TI crystals, the fluctuation of the bulk conductance still keeps competitive and difficult to be separated from the desired UCFs of surface carriers. Here we report on the experimental evidence of the UCFs of the two-dimensional surface state in the bulk insulating Bi2Te2Se nanoribbons. The solely-B\perp-dependent UCF is achieved and its temperature dependence is investigated. The surface transport is further revealed by weak antilocalizations. Such survived UCFs of the topological surface states result from the limited dephasing length of the bulk carriers in ternary crystals. The electron-phonon interaction is addressed as a secondary source of the surface state dephasing based on the temperature-dependent scaling behavior.

We propose a promising electron entanglement detector consisting of two quantum spin Hall systems weakly coupled to a superconductor. The detection of electron spins along various polarization directions, which is a prerequisite for testing Bell's inequality on solid state spins, can be achieved in an all-electrical-controlled manner utilizing the helical edge states. It is found that the violation of Bell's inequality exists in a large range of the tunneling parameters, which can be realized in mercury telluride quantum wells.

The disorder-driven metal-insulator transition in the quantum spin Hall systems is studied by scaling analysis of the Thouless conductance $g$. Below a critical disorder strength, the conductance is independent of the sample size $M$, an indication of critically delocalized electron states. The calculated beta function $\beta=d\ln g/d\ln M$ indicates that the metal-insulator transition is Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) type, which is characterized by bounding and unbounding of vortex-antivortex pairs of the local currents. The KT like metal-insulator transition is a basic characteristic of the quantum spin Hall state, being independent of the time-reversal symmetry., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures