Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 50: SKM Symposium: Topological Insulators (SYTI)

HL 50.3: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 11:30–12:00, TRE Ma

Interaction, disorder, and quantum criticality in Z_2 topological insulators — •Alexander Mirlin — Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

We study disorder and interaction effects in topological insulators with strong spin-orbit coupling. We find that the interplay of nontrivial topology, quantum interference, and Coulomb repulsion induces a novel critical state on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator. Remarkably, this interaction-induced criticality, characterized by a universal value of conductivity, emerges without any adjustable parameters. Further, we predict a direct quantum-spin-Hall transition in two dimensions that occurs via a similar critical state.

[1] P.M. Ostrovsky, I.V. Gornyi, A.D. Mirlin, Interaction-induced criticality in Z_2 topological insulators, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 036803 (2010)

[2] A. D. Mirlin, F. Evers, I. V. Gornyi, P. M. Ostrovsky, Anderson Transitions: Criticality, Symmetries, and Topologies, in "50 Years of Anderson Localization", ed. by E. Abrahams (World Scientific, 2010); reprinted in Int J Mod Phys B 24, 1577 (2010).