Dirac theory and topological phases of silicon nanotube

Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo - Hongo 7-3-1, 113-8656, Japan

Received: 21 March 2012
Accepted: 22 May 2012

Abstract

Silicon nanotube is constructed by rolling up a silicene, i.e., a monolayer of silicon atoms forming a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. It is a semiconductor or an insulator due to relatively large spin-orbit interactions induced by its buckled structure. The key observation is that this buckled structure allows us to control the band structure by applying an electric field E_z. When E_z is larger than a certain critical value E_cr, by analyzing the band structure and also on the basis of the effective Dirac theory, we demonstate the emergence of four helical zero-energy modes propagating along the nanotube. Accordingly, a silicon nanotube contains three regions, namely, a topological insulator, a band insulator and a metallic region separating these two types of insulators. The wave function of each zero mode is localized within the metallic region, which may be used as a quantum wire to transport spin currents in future spintronics. We present an analytic expression of the wave function for each helical zero mode. These results are applicable also to germanium nanotubes.