1210.8186 (O. P. Sushkov et al.)

Topological Insulating States in Ordinary Semiconductors    [PDF]

O. P. Sushkov, A. H. Castro Neto

We propose that ordinary semiconductors with large spin-orbit coupling (SOC), such as GaAs, can host stable, robust, and tunable topological states in the presence of quantum confinement and superimposed potentials with hexagonal symmetry. We show that, unlike other systems, the electronic gaps can be as large as the electronic bandwidth and that chiral spin edge states only exist because of the SOC.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.8186