Topological properties of zincblende materials

Abstract: Zincblende semiconductors are materials used in electronics since decades. In the last years, these compounds have been revisited and studied in the context of topological insulators and semimetals. For example, a two-dimensional CdTe/HgTe/CdTe quantum-well is a prototypical topological insulator studied intensively since 2005. Thouless, Haldane and Kosterlitz were awarded this years Nobel prize in physics for their fundamental work, which finally led to the current immense interest in these materials.
In my talk I will give an overview of topological insulators and semiconductors. I will explain the basic concepts of bulk topological invariants and their connection to topological surface states, and mention their possible applications. In the second half of the talk, I will present the results of our ab initio-based tight-binding calculations of topological properties in alloys of zincblende compounds and in -Sn.