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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 55: Topology and symmetry protected materials & Topological insulators (joint session O/HL/TT)

TT 55.8: Talk

Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 16:45–17:00, HSZ/0401

Backscattering in topological edge states despite time-reversal symmetry — Jonas Erhardt^1,2, •Mattia Iannetti^3,4, Fernando Dominguez^2,5, Ewelina M. Hankiewicz^2,5, Björn Trauzettel^2,5, Gianni Profeta^3,4, Domenico Di Sante⁶, Giorgio Sangiovanni^2,5, Simon Moser^1,2, and Ralph Claessen^1,2 — ¹Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg — ²Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, Universität Würzburg — ³Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche, Università degli Studi dell'Aquila — ⁴CNR-SPIN C/o Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche, Università degli Studi dell'Aquila — ⁵Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg — ⁶Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna

Quantum Spin Hall Insulators (QSHI) are promising materials for many applications based on Dirac fermions and topologically-protected edge states. Indium adatoms on a silicon carbide surface, the so-called Indenene, was the first material in which a topological classification solely based on an inspection of the bulk wave functions has been demonstrated. In this work, we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of finite-sized Indenene systems, using STM/STS measurements and a quantitative tight-binding model revealing the rich physics of edge states. We find that a strongly non-linear edge dispersion leads to inter-Kramers pair backscattering, thereby extending the conventional understanding of backscattering protection in topological edge states.

Keywords: STM; Edge-state; Backscattering; time-reversal symmetry; topology