Supercurrent Reversal in Two-Dimensional Topological Insulators

Alexander Zyuzin, Mohammad Alidoust, Daniel Loss

Published 2015-07-17Version 1

We theoretically demonstrate that a supercurrent across a two-dimensional topological insulator subjected to an external magnetic field unambiguously reveals the existence of edge-mode superconductivity. When the edge states of a narrow two-dimensional topological insulator are hybridized, an external magnetic field can close the hybridization gap, thus driving a quantum phase transition from insulator to semimetal states of the topological insulator. Importantly, we find a sign reversal of the supercurrent at the quantum phase transition which offers a simple and experimentally feasible way to observe intrinsic properties of topological insulators including edge-mode superconductivity.