1] Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2].
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Nature. 2014 Jan 23;505(7484):528-32. doi: 10.1038/nature12800. Epub 2013 Dec 22.
Low-dimensional electronic systems have traditionally been obtained by electrostatically confining electrons, either in heterostructures or in intrinsically nanoscale materials such as single molecules, nanowires and graphene. Recently, a new method has emerged with the recognition that symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases, which occur in systems with an energy gap to quasiparticle excitations (such as insulators or superconductors), can host robust surface states that remain gapless as long as the relevant global symmetry remains unbroken. The nature of the charge carriers in SPT surface states is intimately tied to the symmetry of the bulk, resulting in one- and two-dimensional electronic systems with novel properties. For example, time reversal symmetry endows the massless charge carriers on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator with helicity, fixing the orientation of their spin relative to their momentum. Weakly breaking this symmetry generates a gap on the surface, resulting in charge carriers with finite effective mass and exotic spin textures. Analogous manipulations have yet to be demonstrated in two-dimensional topological insulators, where the primary example of a SPT phase is the quantum spin Hall state. Here we demonstrate experimentally that charge-neutral monolayer graphene has a quantum spin Hall state when it is subjected to a very large magnetic field angled with respect to the graphene plane. In contrast to time-reversal-symmetric systems, this state is protected by a symmetry of planar spin rotations that emerges as electron spins in a half-filled Landau level are polarized by the large magnetic field. The properties of the resulting helical edge states can be modulated by balancing the applied field against an intrinsic antiferromagnetic instability, which tends to spontaneously break the spin-rotation symmetry. In the resulting canted antiferromagnetic state, we observe transport signatures of gapped edge states, which constitute a new kind of one-dimensional electronic system with a tunable bandgap and an associated spin texture.
低维电子系统传统上是通过静电将电子限制在异质结构或本征纳米材料中获得的,例如单分子、纳米线和石墨烯。最近,人们认识到,具有能量隙到准粒子激发的对称保护拓扑(SPT)相可以容纳稳定的表面态,只要相关的全局对称性不被破坏,这些表面态就保持无能隙。SPT 表面态中的电荷载流子的性质与体的对称性密切相关,导致具有新颖性质的一维和二维电子系统。例如,时间反演对称性赋予三维拓扑绝缘体表面上无质量的电荷载流子的螺旋性,确定了它们的自旋相对于其动量的方向。弱打破这种对称性会在表面上产生间隙,导致具有有限有效质量和奇异自旋结构的电荷载流子。类似的操纵尚未在二维拓扑绝缘体中得到证明,其中 SPT 相的主要例子是量子自旋霍尔态。在这里,我们通过实验证明,当非常大的磁场相对于石墨烯平面倾斜时,中性单层石墨烯具有量子自旋霍尔态。与时间反演对称系统相比,这种状态由平面自旋旋转的对称性保护,当半满朗道能级中的电子自旋被强磁场极化时,这种对称性就会出现。由此产生的螺旋边缘态的性质可以通过平衡外加场与本征反铁磁不稳定性来调节,这会自发打破自旋旋转对称性。在由此产生的倾斜反铁磁状态中,我们观察到具有带隙边缘态的输运特征,这构成了一种新的具有可调带隙和相关自旋结构的一维电子系统。