title: Phase transitions in two tunnel-coupled HgTe quantum wells: Bilayer graphene analogy and beyond.
abstract: HgTe quantum wells possess remarkable physical properties as for instance the quantum spin Hall state and the "single-valley" analog of graphene, depending on their layer thicknesses and barrier composition. However, double HgTe quantum wells yet contain more fascinating and still unrevealed features. Here we report on the study of the quantum phase transitions in tunnel-coupled HgTe layers separated by CdTe barrier. We demonstrate that this system has a 3/2 pseudo spin degree of freedom, which features a number of particular properties associated with the spin-dependent coupling between HgTe layers. We discover a specific metal phase arising in a wide range of HgTe and CdTe layer thicknesses, in which a gapless bulk and a pair of helical edge states coexist. This phase holds some properties of bilayer graphene such as an unconventional quantum Hall effect and an electrically-tunable band gap. In this "bilayer graphene" phase, electric field opens the band gap and drives the system into the quantum spin Hall state. Furthermore, we discover a new type of quantum phase transition arising from a mutual inversion between second electron- and hole-like subbands. This work paves the way towards novel materials based on multi-layered topological insulators.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Physics of Microstructures RAS, GSP-105, 603950, Nizhni Novgorod, Russia.|Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR CNRS 5221, Universite Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Krishtopenko
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR CNRS 5221, Universite Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier, France.|Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sokolowska 29/37 01-142 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Knap
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR CNRS 5221, Universite Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Teppe