Nonlinear planar magnetotransport as a probe of the quantum geometry of topological surface states

It has been recently established that transport measurements in the nonlinear regime can give direct access to the quantum metric (QM): the real part of the quantum geometric tensor characterizing the geometry of the electronic wavefunctions in a solid. In topological materials, the QM has been so far revealed in thin films of the topological antiferromagnet MnBi₂Te₄ where it provides a direct contribution to longitudinal currents quadratic in the driving electric field. Here we show that the Dirac surface states of strong three-dimensional topological insulators have a QM that can be accessed from the nonlinear transport characteristics in the presence of an externally applied planar magnetic field. A previously unknown intrinsic part of the longitudinal magnetoconductivity carries the signature of the QM while coexisting with the extrinsic part generating the so-called bilinear magnetoelectric resistance. We prove that the QM-induced nonlinear transport arise both in topological insulators of the Bi₂Se₃ materials class and in the series of cubic mercury chalcogenides as a result of the combined action of the Zeeman coupling with hexagonal warping and particle-hole symmetry breaking effects respectively.