pith. sign in

arxiv: 1412.7416 · v2 · pith:YLNZ3JCPnew · submitted 2014-12-23 · ❄️ cond-mat.mes-hall · cond-mat.supr-con

Magnetic order on a topological insulator surface with warping and proximity-induced superconductivity

classification ❄️ cond-mat.mes-hall cond-mat.supr-con
keywords magneticskyrmionsurfacetopologicalchargegroundhexagonalinsulator
0
0 comments X
read the original abstract

We determine the nature of the magnetic order on the surface of a topological insulator (TI) which develops due to hexagonal warping and the resulting Fermi surface (FS) nesting in the presence of a repulsive Hubbard interaction. For this purpose we investigate the spin susceptibility and derive a Landau theory to compare the different accessible phases. For a nearly hexagonal FS and sufficiently strong interaction the magnetic ground state is formed by a skyrmion lattice, i.e., by a superposition of three helical spin density waves which preserves C$_3$ symmetry. The magnetic ground state is topologically nontrivial with a nonzero skyrmion charge, which can be stabilized and controlled by an applied magnetic field. By bringing the TI in proximity to a conventional superconductor one can engineer a C$_3$-symmetric topological superconductor. We explore the modification of the phase diagram as well as the mutual influence between the skyrmion structure and a multipolar distribution of supercurrents, which can provide information about the underlying skyrmion charge.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.