Higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) are a newly discovered class of topological insulators which exhibit unconventional bulk-boundary correspondence. Very recently, the concept of HOTIs has been extended to aperiodic quasicrystalline systems, where the topological band theory fails to describe topological phases. More importantly, a novel HOTI phase protected by an eightfold rotational symmetry, not found in crystalline materials, was identified in the Ammann-Beenker tiling quasicrystals. Here we report the discovery of a quasicrystalline HOTI in a dodecagonal quasicrystal. The quasicrystalline HOTI supports twelve in-gap zero-energy modes symmetrically distributed at the corners of the quasicrystal dodecagon. These zero-energy corner modes are protected by a combination of a twelvefold rotational symmetry and mirror symmetry, as well as particle-hole symmetry, which has no crystalline counterpart.
A new type of long-range ordering in the absence of translational symmetry gives rise to drastic revolution of our common knowledge in condensed matter physics. Quasicrystal, as such unconventional system, became a plethora to test our insights and to find exotic states of matter. In particular, electronic properties in quasicrystal have gotten lots of attention along with their experimental realization and controllability in twisted bilayer systems. In this work, we study how quasicrystalline order in bilayer systems can induce unique localization of electrons without any extrinsic disorders.…
Dodecagonal bilayer graphene quasicrystal has 12-fold rotational order but lacks translational symmetry which prevents the application of band theory. In this paper, we study the electronic and optical properties of graphene quasicrystal with large-scale tight-binding calculations involving more than ten million atoms. We propose a series of periodic approximants which reproduce accurately the properties of quasicrystal within a finite unit cell. By utilizing the band-unfolding method on the smallest approximant with only 2702 atoms, the effective band structure of graphene quasicrystal is der…
Quantum states of quasiparticles in solids are dictated by symmetry. Thus, a discovery of unconventional symmetry can provide a new opportunity to reach a novel quantum state. Recently, Dirac and Weyl electrons have been observed in crystals with discrete translational symmetry. Here we experimentally demonstrate Dirac electrons in a two-dimensional quasicrystal without translational symmetry. A dodecagonal quasicrystal was realized by epitaxial growth of twisted bilayer graphene rotated exactly 30 degree. The graphene quasicrystal was grown up to a millimeter scale on SiC(0001) surface while …
We study the lattice configuration and electronic structure of a double moiré superlattice, which is composed of a graphene layer encapsulated by two other layers in a way such that the two hexagonal moiré patterns are arranged in a dodecagonal quasicrystalline configuration. We show that there are between 0 and 4 such configurations depending on the lattice mismatch between graphene and the encapsulating layer. We then reveal the resonant interaction, which is distinct from the conventional 2-, 3-, 4-wave mixing of moiré superlattices, that brings together and hybridizes twelve degenerate Blo…
The recently realized bilayer graphene system with a twist angle of $30^\circ$ offers a new type of quasicrystal which unites the dodecagonal quasicrystalline nature and graphene's relativistic properties. Here, we introduce a concise theoretical framework that fully respects both the dodecagonal rotational symmetry and the massless Dirac nature, to describe the electronic states of the system. We find that the electronic spectrum consists of resonant states labeled by 12-fold quantized angular momentum, together with the extended relativistic states. The resulting quasi-band structure is comp…
The disorder effects on higher-order topological phases in periodic systems have attracted much attention. However, in aperiodic systems, such as quasicrystalline systems, the interplay between disorder and higher-order topology is still unclear. In this paper, we investigate the effects of disorder on two types of second-order topological insulators, including a quasicrystalline quadrupole insulator and a modified quantum spin Hall insulator, in a two-dimensional Amman-Beenker tiling quasicrystalline lattice. We demonstrate that the higher-order topological insulators are robust against weak …
Chern insulator or quantum anomalous Hall state is a topological state with integer Hall conductivity but in absence of Landau level. It had been well established on various two-dimensional lattices with periodic structure. Here, we report similar Chern insulators can also be realized on the quasicrystal with $5$-fold rotational symmetry. Providing the staggered flux through plaquettes, we propose two types of quasicrystalline Chern insulators. Their topological characterizations are well identified by the robustness of edge states, non-zero real-space Chern number, and quantized conductance. …
Motivated by the recent experimental realization of the topological Anderson insulator and research interest on the topological quasicrystal lattices, we investigate the effects of disorder on topological properties of a two-dimensional Penrose-type quasicrystal lattice that supports the quantum spin Hall insulator (QSHI) and normal insulator (NI) phases in the clean limit. It is shown that the helical edge state of the QSHI phase is robust against weak disorder. Most saliently, it is found that disorder can induce a phase transition from NI to QSHI phase in the quasicrystal system. The numeri…
Quadrupole topological insulators are a new class of topological insulators with quantized quadrupole moments, which support protected gapless corner states. The experimental demonstrations of quadrupole-topological insulators were reported in a series of artificial materials, such as photonic crystals, acoustic crystals, and electrical circuits. In all these cases, the underlying structures have discrete translational symmetry and thus are periodic. Here we experimentally realize two-dimensional aperiodic-quasicrystalline quadrupole-topological insulators by constructing them in electrical ci…
The quest for the topological phases of matter in an aperiodic system has been greatly developed recently. Here we investigate the effects of disorder on topological phases of a two-dimensional Ammann-Beenker tiling quasicrystalline lattice. For comparison purposes, we also consider the case of a periodic snub-square crystalline lattice, which has the same primitive tiles as the Ammann-Beenker tiling quasicrystalline lattice. By calculating the spin Bott index and the two-terminal conductance, we confirm that the topological phases with disorder share the similar properties in the two systems …
The experimental realization of twisted bilayer graphene strongly pushed the inspection of bilayer systems. In this context, it was recently shown that a two layer Haldane model with a thirty degree rotation angle between the layers represents a higher order topological insulator, with zero-dimensional states isolated in energy and localized at the physical vertices of the nanostructure. We show, within a numerical tight binding approach, that the energy of the zero dimensional states strongly depends on the geometrical structure of the vertices. In the most extreme cases, once a specific band…
Current understanding of higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) is based primarily on crystalline materials. Here, we propose that HOTIs can be realized in quasicrystals. Specifically, we show that two distinct types of second-order topological insulators (SOTIs) can be constructed on the quasicrystalline lattices (QLs) with different tiling patterns. One is derived by using a Wilson mass term to gap out the edge states of the quantum spin Hall insulator on QLs. The other is the quasicrystalline quadrupole insulator (QI) with a quantized quadrupole moment. We reveal some unusual features …
We study the role of the edges in determining the features of the topological phase in a quasicrystalline higher order topological insulator. We consider a specific model consisting of two stacked Haldane models with opposite Chern number and a $30^\circ$ twist, whose structure is crystallographically equivalent to that of the graphene quasicrystal. We find that the gap-opening in the low energy spectrum of the higher order topological insulator occurs at different energies when different kinds of edges are considered. Crucially, bearded bonds appear to be necessary for the gap to appear close…
We establish an analytic low-energy theory describing higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) phases in quasicrystalline systems. We apply this to a model consisting of two stacked Haldane models with oppositely propagating edge modes, analogous to the Kane-Mele model, and with a $30^\circ$ twist. We show that the resulting localized modes at corners, characteristic of a HOTI, are not associated with conventional mass inversions but are instead associated with what we dub "fractional mass kinks". By generalizing the low-energy theory, we establish a classification for arbitrary $ n $-fold ro…
We study the topological gap labeling of general 3D quasicrystals and we find that every gap in the spectrum is characterized by a set of the third Chern numbers. We show that a quasi-periodic structure has multiple Brillouin zones defined by redundant wavevectors, and the number of states below a gap is quantized as an integer linear combination of volumes of these Brillouin zones. The associated quantum numbers to characterize energy gaps can be expressed as third Chern numbers by considering a formal relationship between an adiabatic charge pumping under cyclic deformation of the quasi-peri…
We investigate the properties of a two-dimensional quasicrystal in the presence of a uniform magnetic field. In this configuration, the density of states (DOS) displays a Hofstadter butterfly-like structure when it is represented as a function of the magnetic flux per tile. We show that the low-DOS regions of the energy spectrum are associated with chiral edge states, in direct analogy with the Chern insulators realized with periodic lattices. We establish the topological nature of the edge states by computing the topological Chern number associated with the bulk of the quasicrystal. This topo…
Topological metal-insulator transitions in one-dimensional non-Hermitian quasicrystals: beyond PT-symmetry
College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Ocean University of China（中国海洋大学物理与光电工程学院）；Qingdao Key Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronics（青岛先进光电子重点实验室）；Engineering Research Center of Advanced Marine Physical Instruments and Equipment of MOE（教育部海洋高端装备工程研究中心）；Department of Physics, National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学物理系）；Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学量子技术中心）；MajuLab, CNRS-UCA-SU-NUS-NTU International Joint Research Unit（马久实验室，CNRS-南法大学-苏黎世联邦理工学院-新加坡国立大学-南洋理工大学国际联合研究单位）；Center for Phononics and Thermal Energy Science, China-EU Joint Lab on Nanophononics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University（同济大学物理科学与技术学院，声子学与热能科学中心，中欧纳米声子学联合实验室，上海市特殊人工微结构材料与技术重点实验室）
Topological insulators and topological superconductors are distinguished by their bulk phase transitions and gapless states at a sharp boundary with the vacuum. Quasicrystals have recently been found to be topologically nontrivial. In quasicrystals, the bulk phase transitions occur in the same manner as standard topological materials, but their boundary phenomena are more subtle. In this Letter we directly observe bulk phase transitions, using photonic quasicrystals, by constructing a smooth boundary between topologically distinct one-dimensional quasicrystals. Moreover, we use the same method…
The bulk spectrum of a possible Chern insulator on a quasicrystalline lattice is examined. The effect of being a 2D insulator seems to override any fractal properties in the spectrum. We compute that the spectrum is either two continuous bands, or that any gaps other than the main gap are small. After making estimates on the spectrum, we deduce a finite system size, above which the K-theory must coincide with the K-theory of the infinite system. Knowledge of the spectrum and $K$-theory of the infinite-area system will control the spectrum and K-theory of sufficiently large finite systems. The …
The unrelated discoveries of quasicrystals and topological insulators have in turn challenged prevailing paradigms in condensed-matter physics. We find a surprising connection between quasicrystals and topological phases of matter: (i) quasicrystals exhibit nontrivial topological properties and (ii) these properties are attributed to dimensions higher than that of the quasicrystal. Specifically, we show, both theoretically and experimentally, that one-dimensional quasicrystals are assigned two-dimensional Chern numbers and, respectively, exhibit topologically protected boundary states equivale…
Recent years saw the complete classification of topological band structures, revealing an abundance of topological crystalline insulators. Here we theoretically demonstrate the existence of topological materials beyond this framework, protected by quasicrystalline symmetries. We construct a higher-order topological phase protected by a point group symmetry that is impossible in any crystalline system. Our tight-binding model describes a superconductor on a quasicrystalline Ammann-Beenker tiling which hosts localized Majorana zero modes at the corners of an octagonal sample. The Majorana modes …
Explicit equivalence between the spectral localizer and local Chern and winding markers
KTH Royal Institute of Technology（皇家理工学院）；Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)（圣塞巴斯蒂安国际物理中心）；IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science（伊克尔巴斯基克科学基金会）；Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, Institut Néel（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学、法国国家科学研究中心、格勒诺布尔理工学院、内耳研究所）
