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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. B » Volume 79 » Issue 24
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Phys. Rev. B 79, 241306(R) (2009) [4 pages]

Optical manipulation of edge-state transport in HgTe quantum wells in the quantum Hall regime

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M. J. Schmidt1, E. G. Novik2, M. Kindermann3, and B. Trauzettel4
1Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
2Physikalisches Institut (EP3), University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
3School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
4Institute for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany

Received 18 February 2009; published 8 June 2009

We investigate an effective low-energy theory of HgTe quantum wells near their mass inversion thickness in a perpendicular magnetic field. By comparison of the effective band structure with a more elaborated and well-established model, the parameter regime and the validity of the effective model are scrutinized. Optical transitions in HgTe quantum wells are analyzed. We find selection rules which we functionalize to optically manipulate edge-state transport. Qualitatively, our findings equally apply to optical edge current manipulation in graphene.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.79.241306
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.79.241306
PACS:
72.10.−d, 73.61.−r
 
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