Eur. Phys. J. B (2012) 85: 100
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2012-20544-2

Regular Article

Electron transport with tunable ferromagnetic barriers on the surface of topological insulators

School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China

^a e-mail: unique-bird@163.com

Received: 6 July 2011
Received in final form: 20 January 2012
Published online: 23 March 2012

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the transport properties of electrons on the surface of topological insulators with tuneable external ferromagnetic barriers. It is confirmed that the transport properties of electrons can be greatly affected by the magnitude (or the direction) of the magnetisation and the gate voltage. Some electronically or magnetically controlled devices may be constructed based on our research.