Home > Press > Surprising qualities of insulator ring surfaces: Surface phenomena in ring-shaped topological insulators are just as controllable as those in spheres made of the same material
Abstract:
Topological insulators behave like insulators at their core and allow good conductivity on their surface. They owe their characteristics to a new quantum state within the material discovered in 2007 and 2009 for 2D and 3D materials, respectively. Scientists studying the surface of ring-shaped, or toric, topological insulators, have just discovered some characteristics that had only previously been confirmed in spheres. Jakson Fonseca from the University Federal of Viçosa, Brazil, and colleagues describe their findings in a paper published in EPJ B. These results could hold considerable potential for applications in electronics. Indeed, this discovery means that the curved surface induces internal fields, called gauge fields, in the electrons carrying the electric charge located at the surface. By contrast, in graphene, similar fiels have been induced by mechanical tensions or defects in the way the carbon atoms are arranged in the one-atom-thick honeycomb lattice.
The authors have investigated whether the particles that carry an electric charge at the surface have characteristics, known as a relativistic massless linear spectrum, in ring-shaped surface geometries. In 2012 a Japanese group provided a partial answer to this question by working on a sphere. To understand what takes place on the surface of the insulator, they used a mathematical approach, based on a method called differential geometry.
In this work, the authors show that the relativistic spectrum remains the same in ring-shaped materials as in spherical ones. Specifically, the authors show that there is a zero energy state on the surface of a ring-shaped topological insulator. They also found that the effect of the curvature leads to a coupling between charge carriers and the variable Gaussian curvature similar to a coupling with a gauge field. This coupling is responsible for two distinct types of quantum mechanical behaviour of the electron spin, called the Berry phase, and a string of magnetic monopoles, induced in the centre of the torus.
The next steps involves investigating further how best to control these mechanisms, which induce gauge fields for surface carriers in topological insulators.
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Sabine Lehr
49-622-148-78336
Copyright © Springer
If you have a comment, please Contact us.Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Related Links |
Related News Press |
Quantum Physics
Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024
Bridging light and electrons January 12th, 2024
News and information
Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024
Graphene/ Graphite
NRL discovers two-dimensional waveguides February 16th, 2024
Possible Futures
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
Spintronics
Quantum materials: Electron spin measured for the first time June 9th, 2023
Spin photonics to move forward with new anapole probe November 4th, 2022
Chip Technology
New chip opens door to AI computing at light speed February 16th, 2024
HKUST researchers develop new integration technique for efficient coupling of III-V and silicon February 16th, 2024
NRL discovers two-dimensional waveguides February 16th, 2024
Quantum Computing
Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024
World’s first logical quantum processor: Key step toward reliable quantum computing December 8th, 2023
Discoveries
What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024
Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024
High-tech 'paint' could spare patients repeated surgeries March 8th, 2024
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
Announcements
What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
Premium Products | ||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||