We calculate the two-terminal current noise generated by a magnetic moment coupled to a helical edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator. When the system is symmetric with respect to in-plane… Click to show full abstract
We calculate the two-terminal current noise generated by a magnetic moment coupled to a helical edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator. When the system is symmetric with respect to in-plane spin rotation, the noise is dominated by the Nyquist component even in the presence of a voltage bias V. The corresponding noise spectrum S(V,ω) is determined by a modified fluctuation-dissipation theorem with the differential conductance G(V,ω) in place of the linear one. The differential noise ∂S/∂V, commonly measured in experiments, is strongly dependent on frequency on a small scale τ_{K}^{-1}≪T set by the Korringa relaxation rate of the local moment. This is in stark contrast to the case of conventional mesoscopic conductors where ∂S/∂V is frequency independent and defined by the shot noise. In a helical edge, a violation of the spin-rotation symmetry leads to the shot noise, which becomes important only at a high bias. Uncharacteristically for a fermion system, this noise in the backscattered current is super-Poissonian.
               
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