Electric field induced edge-state oscillations in InAs/GaSb quantum wells

Inverted-gap InAs/GaSb quantum wells have long been predicted to show quantum spin Hall insulator (QSHI) behavior. The experimental characterization of the QSHI phase in these systems has relied on the presence of quantized edge transport near charge neutrality. However, experimental data showing the presence of edge conductance in the trivial regime suggest that additional experimental signatures are needed to characterize the QSHI phase. Here we show that electric field-induced gap oscillations can be used as an indicator of the presence of helical edge states in the system. By studying a realistic low-energy model InAs/GaSb quantum wells derived from k . p band theory, we show that such oscillations are bound to appear in narrow samples as the system is driven to the topological phase by the electric field. Our results can serve as a guide for the search of additional experimental signatures of the presence of topologically protected helical edge states in InAs/GaSb systems.