Physics – Condensed Matter – Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Scientific paper
2012-01-18
New J. Phys. 14, 033003 (2012)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
6 pages, 6 figures
Scientific paper
10.1088/1367-2630/14/3/033003
Silicene is a monolayer of silicon atoms forming a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice, which shares almost every remarkable property with graphene. The low energy structure of silicene is described by Dirac electrons with relatively large spin-orbit interactions due to its buckled structure. The key observation is that the band structure is controllable by applying the electric field to a silicene sheet. In particular, the gap closes at a certain critical electric field. Examining the band structure of a silicene nanoribbon, we demonstrate that a topological phase transition occurs from a topological insulator to a band insulator with the increase of the electric field. We also show that it is possible to generate helical zero modes anywhere in a silicene sheet by adjusting the electric field locally to this critical value. The region may act as a quantum wire or a quantum dot surrounded by topological and/or band insulators. We explicitly construct the wave functions for some simple geometries based on the low-energy effective Dirac theory. These results are applicable also to germanene, that is a two-dimensional honeycomb structure of germanium.
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