Electron transmittivity and reflectivity through a barrier in 2D and 3D topological insulators

POSTER

Abstract

We investigated theoretically the tunneling through a square potential barrier for both 2D and 3D topological insulators and their relationship to the well-known anomalous tunneling effect in graphene. Additionally, we analyzed the way in which both surface and bulk states are affected by the application of circularly-polarized light in comparison with electron dressed states in graphene where the electron-photon interaction led to the formation of an energy gap and chiral symmetry breaking of the electron eigenstates. We compare our results for topological insulators with recently obtained data for graphene. The difference arising from the presence of the bulk state energy spectrum will be analyzed and discussed in detail.

*This research was supported by contract \# FA 9453-11-01-0263 of AFRL. DH would like to thank the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) for its support.

Authors

  • Andrii Iurov

    • Hunter College and Graduate Center, City University of New York

  • Godfrey Gumbs

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065 USA
    • Hunter College at the City University of New York, NY 10065
    • Hunter College, City University of New York
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA
    • Physics \& Astronomy Department, Hunter College, CUNY

  • Oleksiy Roslyak

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College at the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue New York, NY 10065, USA
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065 USA
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College at the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue New York, NY 10065 USA
    • Hunter College, City University of New York
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College, City University of New York,695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA
    • Physics \& Astronomy Department, Hunter College, CUNY

  • Danhong Huang

    • Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM 87117 USA
    • Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM 87117
    • USAF Research Lab (AFRL/RVSS)
    • USAF Research lab, Kirtland AFB, NM