Atomically Thin Quantum Spin Hall Insulators

Abstract

Atomically thin topological materials are attracting growing attention for their potential to radically transform classical and quantum electronic device concepts. Amongst them is the quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator - a two-dimensional state of matter that arises from an interplay of topological band inversion and strong spin-orbit coupling, with large tunable bulk band gaps up to 800meV and gapless, one-dimensional edge states. Reviewing recent advances in materials science and engineering alongside theoretical description, this article surveys the QSH materials library with focus on their prospects for QSH-based device applications. In particular, this review discusses theoretical predictions of non-trivial superconducting pairing in the QSH state towards Majorana based topological quantum computing - the next frontier in QSH materials research.