Interacting Dirac Fermions on a Topological Insulator in a Magnetic Field

Abstract

We study the fractional quantum Hall states on the surface of a topological insulator thin film in an external magnetic field, where the Dirac fermion nature of the charge carriers have been experimentally established only recently. Our studies indicate that the fractional quantum Hall states should indeed be observable in the surface Landau levels of a topological insulator. The strength of the effect will however be different, compared to that in graphene, due to the finite thickness of the topological insulator film and due to the admixture of Landau levels of the two surfaces of the film. At a small film thickness, that mixture results in a strongly nonmonotonic dependence of the excitation gap on the film thickness. At a large enough thickness of the film, the excitation gap in the lowest two Landau levels are comparable in strength.