Axion Electrodynamics and Measurable Effects in Topological Insulators

Topological insulators are materials with their electronic band structure in bulk resembling that of an ordinary insulator, but the surface states are metallic. These surface states are topologically protected, meaning that they are robust against impurities. The topological phenomena of three dimen...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Asker, Andreas
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Karlstads universitet, Fakulteten för hälsa, natur- och teknikvetenskap (from 2013) 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-67519
Description
Summary:Topological insulators are materials with their electronic band structure in bulk resembling that of an ordinary insulator, but the surface states are metallic. These surface states are topologically protected, meaning that they are robust against impurities. The topological phenomena of three dimensional topological insulators can be expressed within topological field theories, predicting axion electrodynamics and the topological magnetoelectric effect. An experiment have been suggested to measure the topological phenomena. In this thesis, the underlying theory and details around the experiment are explained and more detailed derivations and expressions are provided.