Topological phases of silicene and germanene in an external magnetic field: Quantitative results

We investigate the topological phases of silicene and germanene that arise due to the strong spin-orbit interaction in an external perpendicular magnetic field. Below and above a critical field of 10 T, respectively, we demonstrate for silicene under 3% tensile strain quantum spin Hall and quantum anomalous Hall phases. Not far above the critical field, and therefore in the experimentally accessible regime, we obtain an energy gap in the meV range, which shows that the quantum anomalous Hall phase can be realized experimentally in silicene, in contrast to graphene (tiny energy gap) and germanene (enormous field required). © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.