Chern insulator ferromagnets are characterized by a quantized anomalous Hall effect, and have so far been identified experimentally in magnetically-doped topological insulator (MTI) thin films and in bilayer graphene moir{é} superlattices. We classify Chern insulator ferromagnets as either spin or orbital, depending on whether the orbital magnetization results from spontaneous spin-polarization combined with spin-orbit interactions, as in the MTI case, or directly from spontaneous orbital currents, as in the moir{é} superlattice case. We argue that in a given magnetic state, characterized for example by the sign of the anomalous Hall effect, the magnetization of an orbital Chern insulator will often have opposite signs for weak $n$ and weak $p$ electrostatic or chemical doping. This property enables pure electrical switching of a magnetic state in the presence of a fixed magnetic field.
Moir{é} superlattice realized in two-dimensional heterostructures offers an exciting platform to access strongly-correlated electronic states. In this work, we study transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) Moir{é} superlattices with time-reversal-symmetry and nontrivial spin{/valley}-Chern numbers. Utilizing realistic material parameters and the method of exact diagonalization, we find that at a certain twisting angle and fractional filling, gapped fractional topological states, i.e., fractional Chern insulators, are naturally {stabilized} by simply introducing the Coulomb repulsion. In contras…
In this paper, we completely characterize time-reversal invariant three-dimensional Chern-Simons gauge theories with torus gauge group. At the level of the Lagrangian, toral Chern-Simons theory is defined by an integral lattice, while at the quantum level, it is entirely determined by a quadratic function on a finite Abelian group and an integer mod 24. We find that quantum time-reversally symmetric theories can be defined by classical Lagrangians defined by integral lattices which have self-perpendicular embeddings into a unimodular lattice. We find that the quantum toral Chern-Simons theory …
Even if a noninteracting system has zero Berry curvature everywhere in the Brillouin zone, it is possible to introduce interactions that stabilise a fractional Chern insulator. These interactions necessarily break time-reversal symmetry (either spontaneously or explicitly) and have the effect of altering the underlying band structure. We outline a number of ways in which this may be achieved, and show how similar interactions may also be used to create a (time-reversal symmetric) fractional topological insulator. While our approach is rigorous in the limit of long range interactions, we show n…
Halperin States of Particles and Holes in Ideal Time Reversal Invariant Pairs of Chern Bands and The Fractional Quantum Spin Hall Effect in Moiré MoTe$_2$
Electrons in moiré flat band systems can spontaneously break time reversal symmetry, giving rise to a quantized anomalous Hall effect. Here we use a superconducting quantum interference device to image stray magnetic fields in one such system composed of twisted bilayer graphene aligned to hexagonal boron nitride. We find a magnetization of several Bohr magnetons per charge carrier, demonstrating that the magnetism is primarily orbital in nature. Our measurements reveal a large change in the magnetization as the chemical potential is swept across the quantum anomalous Hall gap consistent with …
We analyse the topological transition and localization evolution of disordered two dimensional systems with non trivial topology based on bipartite lattices. Chern insulators with broken time reversal symmetry show non standard behavior for disorder realizations selectively distributed on only one of the sublattices. The Chern number survives to a much stronger disorder strength (one order of magnitude higher) than in the equally distributed disordered case and the final state in the strongly disordered case is metallic.
Chern number reversal and emergent superconductivity in rhombohedral graphene induced by in-plane magnetic fields
Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Peking University（北京大学）；National Institute for Materials Science（物质材料研究机构）；Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院物理研究所）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）
We propose a one-dimensional electron model with parameters modulated adiabatically in closed cycles, which can continuously pump spin to leads. By defining the spin-polarized Wannier functions, we show that the spin pump is protected by the spin Chern numbers, so that it is stable to perturbations violating the time-reversal symmetry and spin conservation. Our work demonstrates the possibility and principle to realize topological spin pumps independent of any symmetries, and also suggests a possible way to experimentally observe the bulk topological invariants.
In two-dimensional time-reversal symmetric topological insulators described by Dirac models, the ${\mathbb Z}_{2}$ topological invariant can be described by the spin Chern number. We present a linear response theory for the spin Berry curvature that integrates to the spin Chern number, and introduce its spectral function that can be measured at finite temperature by momentum- and spin-resolved circular dichroism, which may be achieved by pump-probe type of experiments using spin- and time-resolved ARPES. As a result, the sign of the Pfaffian of the ${\mathbb Z}_{2}$ invariant can be directly m…
We explore the 32 crystallographic point groups and identify topological phases of matter with robust surface modes. For n =3,4 and 6 of the C_{nv} groups, we find the first-known 3D topological insulators without spin-orbit coupling, and with surface modes that are protected only by point groups, i.e., not needing time-reversal symmetry. To describe these C_{nv} systems, we introduce the notions of (a) a halved mirror chirality: an integer invariant which characterizes half-mirror-planes in the 3D Brillouin zone, and (b) a bent Chern number: the traditional TKNN invariant generalized to bent …
Persistent currents, whirlpools, and local Chern markers in twisted TMD Chern insulators
Scuola Normale Superiore（比萨高等师范学院）；International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA)（国际高等研究院）；Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università di Pisa（比萨大学物理系）；Istituto Nanoscienze – CNR（意大利国家研究委员会纳米科学研究所）；Department of Physics, Harvard University（哈佛大学物理学系）
We propose a electron-pumping mechanism called Chern pump to explain the integer quantum Hall effect(IQHE) in the Chern insulator. By using the parallel transport gauge in the hybrid Wannier representation we establish the bulk and edge states correspondence in the Chern insulator. The same correspondence can also be established in two dimensional(2D) topological insulator(TI). So we can consider 2D TI as two time reversal(TR) related CIs put together. The quantum spin Hall effect(QSHE) can be viewed as two TR related Chern pumps pumping electrons to opposite directions. Compared with the Z2 s…
We study the flat-band ferromagnetic phase of a topological Hubbard model within a bosonization formalism and, in particular, determine the spin-wave excitation spectrum. We consider a square lattice Hubbard model at 1/4-filling whose free-electron term is the π-flux model with topologically nontrivial and nearly flat energy bands. The electron spin is introduced such that the model either explicitly breaks time-reversal symmetry (correlated flat-band Chern insulator) or is invariant under time-reversal symmetry (correlated flat-band $Z_2$ topological insulator). We generalize for flat-band Ch…
We discovered a fractional Chern structure in chiral superconducting Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ nanofilms by employing electric transport. By using Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ single crystals with nanoscale thickness, a fractional Hall conductance was observed without an external magnetic field. The Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ nanofilms enhanced the superconducting transition temperature to about 3 K. We found an anomalous induced voltage with temperature and thickness dependence, and the switching behavior of the induced voltage appeared when we applied a magnetic field. We suggest that there was fractional magnetic-field-induced el…
The system of spinless fermions on a hexagonal lattice is studied . We have considered tight-binding model with the hopping integrals between the nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor lattice sites, that depend on the direction of the link. The links are divided on three types depending on the direction, the hopping integrals are defined by different phases along the links. The energy of the system depends on the phase differences, the solutions for the phases, that correspond to the minimums of the energy, lead to a topological insulator state with the nontrivial Chern numbers. We have a…
We study three dimensional insulators with inversion symmetry, in which other point group symmetries, such as time reversal, are generically absent. Their band topology is found to be classified by the parities of occupied states at time reversal invariant momenta (TRIM parities), and by three Chern numbers. The TRIM parities of any insulator must satisfy a constraint: their product must be +1. The TRIM parities also constrain the Chern numbers modulo two. When the Chern numbers vanish, a magneto-electric response parameterized by "theta" is defined and is quantized to theta= 0, 2pi. Its value…
An antiferromagnetic Chern insulator (AFCI) can exist if the effect of the time-reversal transformation on the electronic state cannot be compensated by a space group operation. The AFCI state with collinear magnetic order is already realized in noncentrosymmetric honeycomb structures through the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model. In this paper, we demonstrate the existence of the collinear AFCI in a square lattice model which preserves the inversion symmetry. Our study relies on the time-reversal-invariant Harper-Hofstadter-Hubbard model extended by a next-nearest-neighbor hopping term including spin-o…
Making use of index theorem and spin Chern Simons theory, we construct an effective topological field theory of strongly correlated topological insulators coupling to a nonabelian gauge field $ SU(N) $ with an interaction constant $ g $ in the absence of the time-reversal symmetry breaking. If $ N $ and $ g $ allow us to define a t'Hooft parameter $ λ$ of effective coupling as $ λ= N g^{2} $, then our construction leads to the fractional quantum Hall effect on the surface with Hall conductance $ σ_{H}^{s} = \frac{1}{4λ} \frac{e^{2}}{h} $. For the magnetoelectric response described by a bulk ax…
We consider two-dimensional Chern insulators and time-reversal invariant topological insulators and discuss the effect of perturbations breaking either particle-number conservation or time-reversal symmetry. The appearance of trivial mass terms is expected to cause quantum phase transitions into trivial phases when such a perturbation overweights the topological term. These phase transitions are usually associated with a bulk-gap closing. In contrast, the chiral Chern insulator is unaffected by particle-number breaking perturbations. Moreover, the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological insulator undergoes…
A mutual-Chern-Simons Lagrangian is derived as a minimal field theory description of the phase-string model for doped antiferromagnets. Such an effective Lagrangian is shown to retain the full symmetries of parity, time-reversal, and global SU(2) spin rotation, in contrast to conventional Chern-Simons theories where first two symmetries are usually broken. Two ordered phases, i.e., antiferromagnetic and superconducting states, are found at low temperatures as characterized by dual Meissner effects and dual flux quantization conditions due to the mutual-Chern-Simons gauge structure. A dual conf…
We derive compact analytical expressions for the coupled spin-charge susceptibility of a clean helical metal at the surface of a three dimensional topological insulator (TI). These expressions lead to unconventional non-collinear RKKY interactions between two impurity magnetic moments placed on the surface of a TI, and predict the generation of electric currents by time-dependent magnetic moments. We determine the influence of gate and bias voltages on the interlayer exchange coupling between two single-domain ferromagnetic monolayers deposited on top of a TI.
We study the extended Bose-Hubbard model on the square lattice at half filling as a function of next-nearest neighbor hopping amplitude and interaction strength. To variationally map out the phase diagram of this model, we develop a two-parameter family of wave-functions based on the parton construction which can describe both topological and broken symmetry phases on equal footing. In addition, our wave-functions resolve long standing issues with more conventional short-range Jastrow wave-functions. Using this variational ansatz, we show that a spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking frac…
We use the Chern-Simons (CS) fermion representation of s =1/2 spin operators to construct topological, long-range magnetically ordered states of interacting two-dimensional (2D) quantum spin models. We show that the fermion-fermion interactions mediated by the dynamic CS flux attachment may give rise to Cooper pairing of the fermions. Specifically, in an XY model on the honeycomb lattice, this construction leads to a "CS superconductor," which belongs to a topologically non-trivial in 2D symmetry class DIII, with particle-hole and time-reversal symmetries. It is shown that in the original spin…
