Coulomb drag in topological insulator films

Hong Liu; Weizhe Edward Liu; Dimitrie Culcer

doi:10.1016/j.physe.2015.11.027

Coulomb drag in topological insulator films

Hong Liu, Weizhe Edward Liu, Dimitrie Culcer

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We study Coulomb drag between the top and bottom surfaces of topological insulator films. We derive a kinetic equation for the thin-film spin density matrix containing the full spin structure of the two-layer system, and analyze the electron-electron interaction in detail in order to recover all terms responsible for Coulomb drag. Focusing on typical topological insulator systems, with a film thicknesses d up to 6 nm, we obtain numerical and approximate analytical results for the drag resistivity _ρD and find that _ρD is proportional to ^T2^d-4n_a^-3/2n_p^-3/2 at low temperature T and low electron density n_a,p, with a denoting the active layer and p the passive layer. In addition, we compare _ρD with graphene, identifying qualitative and quantitative differences, and we discuss the multi-valley case, ultra thin films and electron-hole layers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	72-79
Number of pages	8
Journal	Physica E: Low-Dimensional Systems and Nanostructures
Volume	79
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2015.11.027
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2016
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Coulomb drag
Electron-electron interactions
Topological insulator

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10.1016/j.physe.2015.11.027

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title = "Coulomb drag in topological insulator films",

abstract = "We study Coulomb drag between the top and bottom surfaces of topological insulator films. We derive a kinetic equation for the thin-film spin density matrix containing the full spin structure of the two-layer system, and analyze the electron-electron interaction in detail in order to recover all terms responsible for Coulomb drag. Focusing on typical topological insulator systems, with a film thicknesses d up to 6 nm, we obtain numerical and approximate analytical results for the drag resistivity ρD and find that ρD is proportional to T2d-4na-3/2np-3/2 at low temperature T and low electron density na,p, with a denoting the active layer and p the passive layer. In addition, we compare ρD with graphene, identifying qualitative and quantitative differences, and we discuss the multi-valley case, ultra thin films and electron-hole layers.",

keywords = "Coulomb drag, Electron-electron interactions, Topological insulator",

author = "Hong Liu and Liu, \{Weizhe Edward\} and Dimitrie Culcer",

year = "2016",

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doi = "10.1016/j.physe.2015.11.027",

language = "English",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Coulomb drag in topological insulator films

AU - Liu, Hong

AU - Liu, Weizhe Edward

AU - Culcer, Dimitrie

PY - 2016/5/1

Y1 - 2016/5/1

N2 - We study Coulomb drag between the top and bottom surfaces of topological insulator films. We derive a kinetic equation for the thin-film spin density matrix containing the full spin structure of the two-layer system, and analyze the electron-electron interaction in detail in order to recover all terms responsible for Coulomb drag. Focusing on typical topological insulator systems, with a film thicknesses d up to 6 nm, we obtain numerical and approximate analytical results for the drag resistivity ρD and find that ρD is proportional to T2d-4na-3/2np-3/2 at low temperature T and low electron density na,p, with a denoting the active layer and p the passive layer. In addition, we compare ρD with graphene, identifying qualitative and quantitative differences, and we discuss the multi-valley case, ultra thin films and electron-hole layers.

AB - We study Coulomb drag between the top and bottom surfaces of topological insulator films. We derive a kinetic equation for the thin-film spin density matrix containing the full spin structure of the two-layer system, and analyze the electron-electron interaction in detail in order to recover all terms responsible for Coulomb drag. Focusing on typical topological insulator systems, with a film thicknesses d up to 6 nm, we obtain numerical and approximate analytical results for the drag resistivity ρD and find that ρD is proportional to T2d-4na-3/2np-3/2 at low temperature T and low electron density na,p, with a denoting the active layer and p the passive layer. In addition, we compare ρD with graphene, identifying qualitative and quantitative differences, and we discuss the multi-valley case, ultra thin films and electron-hole layers.

KW - Coulomb drag

KW - Electron-electron interactions

KW - Topological insulator

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84951799006

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DO - 10.1016/j.physe.2015.11.027

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84951799006

SN - 1386-9477

VL - 79

SP - 72

EP - 79

JO - Physica E: Low-Dimensional Systems and Nanostructures

JF - Physica E: Low-Dimensional Systems and Nanostructures

ER -

Coulomb drag in topological insulator films

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Keywords

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