Confinement Properties of the 3D Topological Insulators Bi₂Se₃, Bi₂Te₃, and Sb₂Te₃

<p>Recent discoveries have spurred the theoretical prediction and experimental realization of novel materials that have topological properties arising from band inversion. Such topological insulators have conductive surface or edge states but are insulating in the bulk. How the signatures of topological behavior evolve when the system size is reduced is noteworthy from both a fundamental and an application-oriented point of view, as such understanding may form the basis for tailoring systems to be in specific topological phases. This thesis investigates the softly confined topological insulator family of Bi₂Se₃ and its properties when subjected to an in-plane magnetic field. The model system provides a useful platform for systematic study of the transition between the normal and the topological phases, including the development of band inversion and the formation of massless-Dirac-fermion surface states. The effects of bare size quantization, two-dimensional-subband mixing, and electron-hole asymmetry are disentangled and their corresponding physical consequences elucidated. When a magnetic field is present, it is found that the Dirac cone which is formed in surface states, splits into two cones separated in momentum space and that these cones exhibit properties of Weyl fermions. The effective Zeeman splitting is much larger for the surface states than for the bulk states. Furthermore, the g-factor of the surface states depends on the size of the material. The mathematical model presented here may be realizable experimentally in the frame of optical lattices in ultra cold atom gases.</p>

Confinement Properties of the 3D Topological Insulators Bi₂Se₃, Bi₂Te₃, and Sb₂Te₃

<p>Recent discoveries have spurred the theoretical prediction and experimental realization of novel materials that have topological properties arising from band inversion. Such topological insulators have conductive surface or edge states but are insulating in the bulk. How the signatures of topological behavior evolve when the system size is reduced is noteworthy from both a fundamental and an application-oriented point of view, as such understanding may form the basis for tailoring systems to be in specific topological phases. This thesis investigates the softly confined topological insulator family of Bi₂Se₃ and its properties when subjected to an in-plane magnetic field. The model system provides a useful platform for systematic study of the transition between the normal and the topological phases, including the development of band inversion and the formation of massless-Dirac-fermion surface states. The effects of bare size quantization, two-dimensional-subband mixing, and electron-hole asymmetry are disentangled and their corresponding physical consequences elucidated. When a magnetic field is present, it is found that the Dirac cone which is formed in surface states, splits into two cones separated in momentum space and that these cones exhibit properties of Weyl fermions. The effective Zeeman splitting is much larger for the surface states than for the bulk states. Furthermore, the g-factor of the surface states depends on the size of the material. The mathematical model presented here may be realizable experimentally in the frame of optical lattices in ultra cold atom gases.</p>

Site-controlled telecom-wavelength single-photon emitters in atomically-thin MoTe2

Quantum emitters (QEs) in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDCs) have advanced to the forefront of quantum communication and transduction research. To date, QEs capable of operating in O-C telecommunication bands have not been demonstrated in TMDCs. Here we report site-controlled creation of telecom QEs emitting over the 1080 to 1550 nm telecommunication wavelength range via coupling of 2D molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) to strain inducing nano-pillar arrays. Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiments conducted at 10 K reveal clear photon antibunching with 90% single-photon purity. The photon antibunching can be observed up to liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). Polarization analysis further reveals that while some QEs display cross-linearly polarized doublets with ~1 meV splitting resulting from the strain induced anisotropic exchange interaction, valley degeneracy is preserved in other QEs. Valley Zeeman splitting as well as restoring of valley symmetry in cross-polarized doublets are observed under 8 T magnetic field.

Effective Landé factors for an electrostatically defined quantum point contact in silicene

The transconductance and effective Landé $$g^*$$ g ∗ factors for a quantum point contact defined in silicene by the electric field of a split gate is investigated. The strong spin–orbit coupling in buckled silicene reduces the $$g^*$$ g ∗ factor for in-plane magnetic field from the nominal value 2 to around 1.2 for the first- to 0.45 for the third conduction subband. However, for perpendicular magnetic field we observe an enhancement of $$g^*$$ g ∗ factors for the first subband to 5.8 in nanoribbon with zigzag and to 2.5 with armchair edge. The main contribution to the Zeeman splitting comes from the intrinsic spin–orbit coupling defined by the Kane–Mele form of interaction.

An Exchange Mechanism for the Magnetic Behavior of Er3 Complexes+

We study the magnetic properties of the erbium based compounds, Na9[Er(W5O18)2] and [(Pc)Er{Pc{N(C4H9)2}8}]·/−, in the framework of an effective spin exchange model involving delocalized electrons occupying molecular orbitals. The calculations successfully reproduce the experimental data available in the literature for the magnetic spectrum, magnetization and molar susceptibility in dc and ac fields. Owing to their similar molecular geometry, the compounds’ magnetic behaviors are interpreted in terms of the same set of active orbitals and thus the same effective spin coupling scheme. For all three complexes, the model predicts a prompt change in the ground state from a Kramer’s doublet at zero fields to a fully polarized quartet one brought about by the action of an external magnetic field without Zeeman splitting. This alteration is attributed to the enhancement of the effect of orbital interactions over the spin exchange as the magnitude of the external magnetic field increases.

Site-Controlled Telecom Single-Photon Emitters in Atomically-thin MoTe2

Quantum emitters (QEs) in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDCs) have advanced to the forefront of quantum communication and transduction research1. To date, QEs capable of operating in O-C telecommunication bands have not been demonstrated in TMDCs.2-5 Here we report a deterministic creation of such telecom QEs emitting over the 1080 to 1550 nm wavelength range via coupling of 2D molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) to strain inducing nano-pillar arrays.6, 7 Our Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment conducted at 10 K reveals clear photon antibunching with 90% single photon purity. The photon antibuching can be observed up to liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). Polarization analysis further reveals that while some QEs display cross-linearly polarized doublets with ~1 meV splitting resulting from the strain induced anisotropic exchange interaction, valley degeneracy is preserved in other QEs. Valley Zeeman splitting as well as restoring of valley symmetry in cross-polarized doublets are observed under 8T magnetic field.