通过瑞利散射确定拓扑绝缘体中的量子化拓扑磁电效应。

Determination of the quantized topological magneto-electric effect in topological insulators from Rayleigh scattering.

作者信息

Ge Lixin, Zhan Tianrong, Han Dezhuan, Liu Xiaohan, Zi Jian

机构信息

Department of Physics, Key laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), and Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.

1] Department of Physics, Key laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (MOE), and Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China [2] Department of Applied Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.

出版信息

Sci Rep. 2015 Jan 22;5:7948. doi: 10.1038/srep07948.

DOI:10.1038/srep07948

PMID:25609462

原文链接:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4302310/

Abstract

Topological insulators (TIs) exhibit many exotic properties. In particular, a topological magneto-electric (TME) effect, quantized in units of the fine structure constant, exists in TIs. Here, we theoretically study the scattering properties of electromagnetic waves by TI circular cylinders particularly in the Rayleigh scattering limit. Compared with ordinary dielectric cylinders, the scattering by TI cylinders shows many unusual features due to the TME effect. Two proposals are suggested to determine the TME effect of TIs simply by measuring the electric-field components of scattered waves in the far field at one or two scattering angles. Our results could also offer a way to measure the fine structure constant.

摘要

拓扑绝缘体（TIs）展现出许多奇异特性。特别地，在拓扑绝缘体中存在以精细结构常数为单位进行量子化的拓扑磁电（TME）效应。在此，我们从理论上研究了TI圆柱体对电磁波的散射特性，尤其是在瑞利散射极限下。与普通介质圆柱体相比，由于TME效应，TI圆柱体的散射呈现出许多不同寻常的特征。提出了两种方案，通过测量在一个或两个散射角的远场中散射波的电场分量来简单地确定拓扑绝缘体的TME效应。我们的结果还可能提供一种测量精细结构常数的方法。