Topological protection of electronic states against disorder probed by their magnetic moment

Athmane Tadjine (1) , Christophe Delerue (1)

1 IEMN - Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520

Magnetic moments (MMs) of electrons in topological insulator quantum dots (TI-QDs) are investigated using a model system, namely a multiorbital honeycomb lattice. Their nature and orientation with respect to the spin are studied. We show that large MMs are not specific to edge states in nontrivial gaps, as band states can host even larger MMs. However, we demonstrate that edge-state and band-state MMs have a totally different sensitivity to disorder. Measuring the MMs in TI-QDs is therefore a direct way to probe the nontrivial to trivial topological transition under increasing disorder.

Domaines: Matière Condensée [cond-mat]

Athmane Tadjine, Christophe Delerue. Topological protection of electronic states against disorder probed by their magnetic moment. Physical Review B, 2017, 95 (23), pp.235426. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevB.95.235426⟩. ⟨hal-02906814⟩