Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 53: Transport: Topological Insulators 3 (jointly with TT, MA)

HL 53.6: Talk

Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 10:45–11:00, BH 334

Rashba spin-orbit interaction in the superconducting proximity effect in helical Luttinger liquid — •Pauli Virtanen and Patrik Recher — Institute for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany

We consider the superconducting proximity effect in a helical Luttinger liquid at the edge of a 2D topological insulator. In addition to correlations between the left and right moving modes, coupling to a s-wave superconductor can also induce correlations inside a single mode, as the spin axis of the edge modes is not necessarily constant. This can be induced controllably in HgTe/CdTe quantum wells via the Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We discuss the consequent transport signatures, and point out a long-ranged feature in a dc conductance measurement that can be used to distinguish the two types of correlations present.