Edge State Transport in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator: Effects from Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling

ORAL

Abstract

We analyze the dynamics of the helical edge modes of a quantum spin Hall insulator in the presence of a spatially non-uniform Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The Rashba coupling is found to open a scattering channel which causes localization of the edge modes when the electron-electron interaction or the spatial Rashba variation is sufficiently large. We discuss implications for experiments on edge state transport in HgTe quantum wells.

*Supported by the Swedish Research Council and the STCU.

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Authors

  • Henrik Johannesson

    • University of Gothenburg, Sweden

  • Anders Str\"om

    • University of Gothenburg, Sweden

  • George I. Japaridze

    • Andronikashvili Institute of Physics, Georgia