Inelastic electron backscattering in a generic helical edge channel

We evaluate the low-temperature conductance of a weakly interacting one-dimensional helical liquid without axial spin symmetry. The lack of that symmetry allows for inelastic backscattering of a single electron, accompanied by forward scattering of another. This joint effect of weak interactions and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2012-04, Vol.108 (15), p.156402-156402, Article 156402
Main Authors: Schmidt, Thomas L, Rachel, Stephan, von Oppen, Felix, Glazman, Leonid I
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We evaluate the low-temperature conductance of a weakly interacting one-dimensional helical liquid without axial spin symmetry. The lack of that symmetry allows for inelastic backscattering of a single electron, accompanied by forward scattering of another. This joint effect of weak interactions and potential scattering off impurities results in a temperature-dependent deviation from the quantized conductance, δG ∝ T4. In addition, δG is sensitive to the position of the Fermi level. We determine numerically the parameters entering our generic model for the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang Hamiltonian of a HgTe/CdTe quantum well in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.108.156402