Topological surface states in three-dimensional magnetic insulators

Details Topological surface states in three-dimensional magnetic insulators Topological surface states in three-dimensional magnetic insulators

2008-04-29

arxiv.org/abs/0804.4527v2

Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 186805 (2008)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

4 pages, 2 figures; published version

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.186805

An electron moving in a magnetically ordered background feels an effective magnetic field that can be both stronger and more rapidly varying than typical externally applied fields. One consequence is that insulating magnetic materials in three dimensions can have topologically nontrivial properties of the effective band structure. For the simplest case of two bands, these "Hopf insulators" are characterized by a topological invariant as in quantum Hall states and Z_2 topological insulators, but instead of a Chern number or parity, the underlying invariant is the Hopf invariant that classifies maps from the 3-sphere to the 2-sphere. This paper gives an efficient algorithm to compute whether a given magnetic band structure has nontrivial Hopf invariant, a double-exchange-like tight-binding model that realizes the nontrivial case, and a numerical study of the surface states of this model.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Topological surface states in three-dimensional magnetic insulators does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Topological surface states in three-dimensional magnetic insulators, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Topological surface states in three-dimensional magnetic insulators will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-209330