Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme
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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus
MA 34: Topological Insulators (jointly with DS, HL, O, TT)
MA 34.5: Talk
Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 16:00–16:15, H32
Spin control in the topological surface state of SnTe — •Nicolas Klier1, Sam Shallcross1, Sangeeta Sharma2, and Oleg Pankratov1 — 1Theoretische Festkörperphysik, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstr. 7-B2, 91058 Erlangen — 2Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, 06120 Halle
The interface of SnTe with a vacuum results in a topological Dirac surface state [1,2]. Based on an effective Hamiltonian derived from tight-binding we investigate the properties of this surface state both with and without an in-plane electric current. The RKKY interaction is found to be strongly non-collinear due to the spin texture of the Dirac state. In the presence of an in-plane current we find (i) a polarization of the surface state and (ii) that the RKKY interaction is strongly modified by the presence of a current leading to a possible “topological spin torque effect”.
[1] B.A. Volkov, and O.A. Pankratov, Zh.Eksp. Theor. Fiz. 75, 1362, 1978.
[2] B.A. Volkov, and O.A. Pankratov, JETP Lett.42, 178, 1985.