Nonequilibrium Spectroscopy of Topological Edge Liquids

Abstract: We develop a theory for energy and spatially resolved tunneling spectroscopy of topological quantum spin Hall helical states driven out of equilibrium. When a helical liquid is constrained between two superconducting reservoirs transport at the edge is governed by multiple Andreev reflections. The resulting quasiparticle distribution functions of the edge channels exhibit multiple discontinuities at subgap energies with the periodicity of an applied voltage. The combined effect of interactions, disorder, and normal scattering off the superconducting interface leads to the inelastic processes mixing different helicity modes, thus causing smearing of these singularities. If equilibration is strong, then the distribution functions of the edge channels tend to collapse into a Fermi-like function with an effective temperature determined by the superconducting gap, applied voltage, and intraedge interaction parameter. We conclude that mapping out nonequilibrium distribution functions may help to quantify the relative importance of various relevant perturbations that spoil ideally ballistic edge transport.