Spinful hinge states in the higher-order topological insulators WTe2

Jekwan Lee, Jaehyeon Kwon, Eunho Lee, Jiwon Park, Soonyoung Cha, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Moon-Ho Jo and Hyunyong Choi ()
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Jekwan Lee: Seoul National University
Jaehyeon Kwon: Seoul National University
Eunho Lee: Seoul National University
Jiwon Park: Seoul National University
Soonyoung Cha: Institute for Basic Science
Kenji Watanabe: National Institute for Materials Science
Takashi Taniguchi: National Institute for Materials Science
Moon-Ho Jo: Institute for Basic Science
Hyunyong Choi: Seoul National University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Higher-order topological insulators are recently discovered quantum materials exhibiting distinct topological phases with the generalized bulk-boundary correspondence. Td-WTe2 is a promising candidate to reveal topological hinge excitation in an atomically thin regime. However, with initial theories and experiments focusing on localized one-dimensional conductance only, no experimental reports exist on how the spin orientations are distributed over the helical hinges—this is critical, yet one missing puzzle. Here, we employ the magneto-optic Kerr effect to visualize the spinful characteristics of the hinge states in a few-layer Td-WTe2. By examining the spin polarization of electrons injected from WTe2 to graphene under external electric and magnetic fields, we conclude that WTe2 hosts a spinful and helical topological hinge state protected by the time-reversal symmetry. Our experiment provides a fertile diagnosis to investigate the topologically protected gapless hinge states, and may call for new theoretical studies to extend the previous spinless model.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37482-0

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