Atomically Thin Quantum Spin Hall Insulators

Abstract: Atomically thin topological materials are attracting growing attention for their potential to radically transform classical and quantum electronic device concepts. Amongst them is the quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator - a two-dimensional state of matter that arises from an interplay of topological band inversion and strong spin-orbit coupling, with large tunable bulk band gaps up to 800meV and gapless, one-dimensional edge states. Reviewing recent advances in materials science and engineering alongside theoretical description, this article surveys the QSH materials library with focus on their prospects for QSH-based device applications. In particular, this review discusses theoretical predictions of non-trivial superconducting pairing in the QSH state towards Majorana based topological quantum computing - the next frontier in QSH materials research.