It is known that in some higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs), topological phases are distinguished not by gap closings of bulk states but by those of edge states, which are called boundary-obstructed topological phases (BOTPs). In this paper, we construct an effective theory of the BOTP transition of two-dimensional (2D) Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model in a uniform magnetic field. At $π$ flux per plaquette, this model corresponds to the typical model of HOTIs proposed by Benalcazar, Bernevig, and Hughes (BBH). The BBH model can be approximated by Dirac fermions with two kinds of mass terms, which will be referred to as BBH Dirac insulator. To clarify the BOTP transition of the 2D SSH model around $π$ flux, we study such BBH Dirac insulator in the presence of a magnetic field. On the other hand, generically in continuum Dirac models, boundary conditions associated with the Hermiticity of Hamiltonians are known to play a crucial role in determining the edge states. We first demonstrate that for the conventional Dirac fermion with a single mass term, such boundary conditions indeed determine the edge states even in the presence of a magnetic field. Next, imposing boundary conditions consistent to the lattice terminations and symmetries of the BBH Hamiltonian as well as to the Hermiticity of the BBH Dirac insulator, we obtain the edge states of the BBH Dirac insulator in a magnetic field and reproduce its BOTP transition. In particular, we show that the unpaired Landau levels, which cause the spectral asymmetry, yield the edge states responsible for the BOTP transition.
We analyze the topological properties of a chiral ${p}+i{p}$ superconductor for a two-dimensional metal/semimetal with four Dirac points. Such a system has been proposed to realize second-order topological superconductivity and host corner Majorana modes. We show that with an additional $\mathsf{C}_4$ rotational symmetry, the system is in an intrinsic higher-order topological superconductor phase, and with a lower and more natural $\mathsf{C}_2$ symmetry, is in a boundary-obstructed topological superconductor phase. The boundary topological obstruction is protected by a bulk Wannier gap. Howev…
By solving two-component spinor equation for massless Dirac Fermions, we show that graphene under a periodic external magnetic field exhibits a unique energy spectrum: At low energies, Dirac Fermions are localized inside the magnetic region with discrete Landau energy levels, while at higher energies, Dirac Fermions are mainly found in non-magnetic regions with continuous energy bands originating from wavefunctions analogous to particle-in-box states of electrons. These findings offer a new methodology for the control and tuning of massless Dirac Fermions in graphene.
We numerically demonstrate that the topological corner states residing in the corners of higher-order topological insulator possess non-Abelian braiding properties. Such topological corner states are Dirac fermionic modes other than Majorana zero-modes. We claim that Dirac fermionic modes protected by nontrivial topology also support non-Abelian braiding. An analytical description on such non-Abelian braiding is conducted based on the vortex-induced Dirac-type fermionic modes. The braiding operator for Dirac fermionic modes is also analytically derivated and compared with the Majorana zero-mod…
This review aims at a theoretical discussion of Dirac points in two-dimensional systems. Whereas Dirac points and Dirac fermions are prominent low-energy electrons in graphene (two-dimensional graphite), research on Dirac fermions in low-energy physics has spread beyond condensed-matter systems. In these alternative systems, a large versatility in the manipulation of the relevant band parameters can be achieved. This allows for a systematic study of the motion and different possible fusions of Dirac points, which are beyond the physical limits of graphene. We introduce the basic properties of …
Revealing the ultrafast dynamics of three-dimensional (3D) Dirac fermions upon photoexcitation is critical for both fundamental science and device applications. So far, how the cooling of 3D Dirac fermions differs from that of two-dimensional (2D) Dirac fermions and whether there is population inversion are fundamental questions that remain to be answered. Here we reveal the ultrafast dynamics of Dirac fermions in a model 3D Dirac semimetal Cd$_3$As$_2$ by ultrafast time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (TrARPES) with a tunable probe photon energy from 5.3 - 6.9 eV. The energy- a…
The low energy physics of both graphene and surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators is described by gapless Dirac fermions with linear dispersion. In this work, we predict the emergence of a "heavy" Dirac fermion in a graphene/topological insulator hetero-junction, where the linear term almost vanishes and the corresponding energy dispersion becomes highly non-linear. By combining {\it ab initio} calculations and an effective low-energy model, we show explicitly how strong hybridization between Dirac fermions in graphene and the surface states of topological insulators can r…
The symmetries that protect massless Dirac fermions from a gap opening may become ineffective if the Dirac equation is discretized in space and time, either because of scattering between multiple Dirac cones in the Brillouin zone (fermion doubling) or because of singularities at zone boundaries. Here we introduce an implementation of Dirac fermions on a space-time lattice that removes both obstructions. The quasi-energy band structure has a tangent dispersion with a single Dirac cone that cannot be gapped without breaking both time-reversal and chiral symmetries. We show that this topological …
The type-II Weyl/Dirac fermions are a generalization of conventional or type-I Weyl/Dirac fermions, whose conic spectrum is tilted such that the Fermi surface becomes lines in two dimensions, and surface in three dimensions rather than discrete points of the conventional Weyl/Dirac fermions. The mass-independent renormalization group calculations show that the tilting parameter decreases monotonically with respect to the length scale, which leads to a transition from two dimensional type-II Weyl/Dirac fermions to the type-I ones. Because of the non-trivial Fermi surface, a photon gains a finit…
We discover a new type of geometric phase of Dirac fermions in solids, which is an electronic analogue of the Pancharatnam phase of polarized light. The geometric phase occurs in a local and nonadiabatic scattering event of Dirac fermions at a junction, unveiling topological aspects of scattering of chiral particles, and it is experimentally tunable to an arbitrary value. It provides a unique approach of detecting the topological order of the insulator in a metal-insulator junction of Dirac fermions, establishing new bulk-edge correspondence. The geometric phase also modifies the fundamental q…
The effect of disorder on the Landau levels of massless Dirac fermions is examined for the cases with and without the fermion doubling. To tune the doubling a tight-binding model having a complex transfer integral is adopted to shift the energies of two Dirac cones, which is theoretically proposed earlier and realizable in cold atoms in an optical lattice. In the absence of the fermion doubling, the $n=0$ Landau level is shown to exhibit an anomalous sharpness even if the disorder is uncorrelated in space (i.e., large K-K' scattering). This anomaly occurs when the disorder respects the chiral …
MoS$_2$, a member of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), recently emerged as one of the fastest growing two-dimensional materials due to its fascinating mechanical, thermal, electronic and optical properties. Unlike graphene which possesses massless Dirac fermions with ultra-high electron mobility, monolayer MoS$_2$ is a direct band gap semiconductor. An interesting question arises: Can monolayer MoS$_2$ also possess massless Dirac fermions with ultra-high electron mobility? Here, using first-principles calculations, we show that a monolayer MoS$_2$ allotrope, which consists of repeated s…
We study the algebraic structure of the Dirac fermion state in the organic conductor, α-(BDET-TTF)_2I_3. We find a pair of generators for the Hamiltonian of α-(BDET-TTF)_2I_3 that describes the chirality of Dirac fermions. The phase parameters associated with those generators have an intimate and simple relationship with the positions of the Dirac points in the Brillouin zone. By making use of the form of the generators, a reduced form of the Hamiltonian is constructed that shares some characteristic features of the Dirac fermions with α-(BDET-TTF)_2I_3. For the reduced Hamiltonian we present …
Due to Klein tunneling, electrostatic potentials are unable to confine Dirac electrons. We show that it is possible to confine massless Dirac fermions in a monolayer graphene sheet by inhomogeneous magnetic fields. This allows one to design mesoscopic structures in graphene by magnetic barriers, e.g. quantum dots or quantum point contacts.
The magnetotransport properties of massless Dirac fermions in a gapless HgTe quantum well are investigated. In samples with narrow channels, a large negative magnetoresistance with a Lorentzian profile is observed, which is interpreted as a manifestation of electron viscosity due to electron-electron interaction. Comparison of experiment with theory yields the shear stress relaxation time of the Dirac fermions caused by electron-electron scattering.
We study the quantum Hall effect of Dirac fermions on the surface of a Wilson-Dirac type topological insulator thin film in the strong topological insulating phase. Although a magnetic field breaks time reversal symmetry of the bulk, the surface states can survive even in a strong field regime. We examine how the Landau levels of the surface states are affected by symmetry breaking perturbations.
The spatial discretization of the single-cone Dirac Hamiltonian on the surface of a topological insulator or superconductor needs a special "staggered" grid, to avoid the appearance of a spurious second cone in the Brillouin zone. We adapt the Stacey discretization from lattice gauge theory to produce a generalized eigenvalue problem, of the form ${\mathcal H}ψ=E {\mathcal P}ψ$, with Hermitian tight-binding operators ${\mathcal H}$, ${\mathcal P}$, a locally conserved particle current, and preserved chiral and symplectic symmetries. This permits the study of the spectral statistics of Dirac fe…
We show that new massless Dirac fermions are generated when a slowly varying periodic potential is applied to graphene. These quasiparticles, generated near the supercell Brillouin zone boundaries with anisotropic group velocity, are different from the original massless Dirac fermions. The quasiparticle wavevector (measured from the new Dirac point), the generalized pseudospin vector, and the group velocity are not collinear. We further show that with an appropriate periodic potential of triangular symmetry, there exists an energy window over which the only available states are these quasipart…
Dirac fermions have been studied intensively in condensed matter physics in recent years. Many theoretical predictions critically depend on the number of valleys where the Dirac fermions are realized. In this work, we report the discovery of a two dimensional system with a single valley Dirac cone. We study the transport properties of HgTe quantum wells grown at the critical thickness separating between the topologically trivial and the quantum spin Hall phases. At high magnetic fields, the quantized Hall plateaus demonstrate the presence of a single valley Dirac point in this system. In addit…
The mechanism of delocalization of two-dimensional Dirac fermions with random mass is investigated, using a superfield representation. Although localization effects are very strong, one fermion component can delocalize due to the spontaneous breaking of a special supersymmetry of the model. The delocalized fermion has a non-singular density of states and is decribed by a diffusion propagator. Supersymmetry is restored if the mean of the random mass is sufficiently large. This is accompanied by a critical boson component.
Composite fermions in fractional quantum Hall (FQH) systems are believed to form a Fermi sea of weakly interacting particles at half filling $ν=1/2$. Recently, it was proposed (D. T. Son, Phys. Rev. X 5, 031027 (2015)) that these composite fermions are Dirac particles. In our work, we demonstrate experimentally that composite fermions found in monolayer graphene are Dirac particles at half filling. Our experiments have addressed FQH states in high-mobility, suspended graphene Corbino disks in the vicinity of $ν=1/2$. We find strong temperature dependence of conductivity $σ$ away from half fill…
We develop a microscopic theory of the weak localization of two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions which is valid in the whole range of classically weak magnetic fields. The theory is applied to calculate magnetoresistance caused by the weak localization in graphene and conducting surfaces of bulk topological insulators.
The Datta-Das-type spin field-effect transistor, using a two-dimensional electron gas in a semiconductor heterostructure as a channel, plays a key role in spintronics. Here, we theoretically present a type of spin field-effect transistor based on massless birefringent Dirac fermions in polar Dirac semimetals. The manipulation of spin arises from the existence of the strong spin-orbit coupling, polar space groups, and Dirac cones in a single phase. The oscillatory channel conductance can be controlled by the sign of gate voltage in addition to its magnitude due to the gapless band structures of…
A brief survey is given of theoretical works on surface states (SSs) in Dirac materials. Within the formalism of envelope wave functions and boundary conditions for these functions, a minimal model is formulated that analytically describes surface and edge states of various (topological and non-topological) types in several systems with Dirac fermions (DFs). The applicability conditions of this model are discussed.
Motivated by recent graphene transport experiments, we have undertaken a numerical study of the conductivity of disordered two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions. Our results reveal distinct differences between the cases of short-range and Coulomb randomly distributed scatterers. We speculate that this behavior is related to the Boltzmann transport theory prediction of dirty-limit behavior for Coulomb scatterers.
We address the problems of an energy spectrum and backscattering of massive Dirac fermions confined in a cylindrical quantum wire. The Dirac fermions are described by the 3D Dirac equation supplemented by time-reversal-invariant boundary conditions at a surface of the wire. Even in zero magnetic field, spectra quantum-confined and surface states substantially depend on a boundary parameter a0. At the wire surface with a0 > 0 (a0 < 0) the surface states form 1D massive subbands inside (outside) the bulk gap. The longitudinal magnetic field transforms the energy spectra. In the limit of the thic…
Effect of spin-orbit scattering on quantum diffusive transport of two-dimensional massive Dirac fermions is studied by the diagrammatic technique. The quantum diffusion of massive Dirac fermions can be viewed as a singlet Cooperon in the massless limit and a triplet Cooperon in the large-mass limit. The spin-orbit scattering behaves like random magnetic fields only to the triplet Cooperon, and suppresses the weak localization of Dirac fermions in the large-mass regime. This behavior suggests an experiment to detect the weak localization of bulk subbands in topological insulator thin films, in …
The intersection of two ferromagnetic domain walls placed on the surface of topological insulators provides a one-way beam splitter for domain-wall Dirac fermions. Based on an analytic expression for a static two-soliton magnetic texture we perform a systematic numerical study of the propagation of Dirac wave packets along such intersections. A single-cone staggered-grid finite difference lattice scheme is employed in the numerical analysis. It is shown that the angle of intersection plays a decisive role in determining the splitting ratio of the fermion beam. For a non-rectangular intersectio…
This is a short review of two-dimensional Dirac fermions in graphene and similar systems such as boron nitride, quasi-2D organic salts $α$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$I$_3$, artificial graphene with cold atoms in optical lattices, etc. The emphasis is on magnetic field properties (semi-classical quantization of cyclotron orbits, Landau levels, quantum Hall effect, magneto-plasmons, magneto-phonon resonance, magneto-transport, etc.) and on topological properties (Berry phase, winding number, inter-band effects, merging transition of Dirac points, etc.).
We investigate the pressure effect on the layered Dirac fermion system, which is realized in quasi-two-dimensional organic compound α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3. The trajectory of the contact points is investigated using the tight-binding model with the transfer integrals determined by X-ray diffraction experiments. Vanishing of the Dirac fermion spectrum, opening of the gap, and pressure dependence of inter-layer magnetoresistance are discussed.
Generalizing the notion of composite fermions to the "pseudo-relativistic" Quantum Hall phenomena in graphene, we discuss a possible emergence of compressible states at the filling factors -3/2, -1/2, 1/2, 3/2. This analysis is further extended to the nearby incompressible states viewed as the Integer Quantum Hall Effect of the composite Dirac fermions, as well as those that might occur at the filling factors -1, 0, 1 as a result of the (pseudo)spin-singlet pairing between them.
We study localization properties of two-dimensional Dirac fermions subject to a power-law-correlated random vector potential describing, e.g., the effect of "ripples" in graphene. By using a variety of techniques (low-order perturbation theory, self-consistent Born approximation, replicas, and supersymmetry) we make a case for a possible complete localization of all the electronic states and compute the density of states.
Dirac fermion optics exploits the refraction of chiral fermions across optics-inspired Klein-tunneling barriers defined by high-transparency p-n junctions. We consider the corner reflector (CR) geometry introduced in optics or radars. We fabricate Dirac fermion CRs using bottom-gate-defined barriers in hBN-encapsulated graphene. By suppressing transmission upon multiple internal reflections, CRs are sensitive to minute phonon scattering rates. We report on doping-independent CR transmission in quantitative agreement with a simple scattering model including thermal phonon scattering. As a new s…
The response of fermionic system to external gauge fields in presence of non-quantized magnetic field is determined by current-current correlation function $Π_{μν}({\bf B})$. We study $2D$ dimensional Dirac electron system and calculate current-current correlation function in a presence of magnetic field $B$, chemical potential $η$ and gap $m$.
The density-dependent mobility of n-type HgTe quantum wells with inverted band ordering has been studied both experimentally and theoretically. While semiconductor heterostructures with a parabolic dispersion exhibit an increase in mobility with carrier density, high quality HgTe quantum wells exhibit a distinct mobility maximum. We show that this mobility anomaly is due to backscattering of Dirac fermions from random fluctuations of the band gap (Dirac mass). Our findings open new avenues for the study of Dirac fermion transport with finite and random mass, which so far has been hard to acces…
Recently, a new "type-II" Weyl fermion, which exhibits exotic phenomena such as angle-dependent chiral anomaly, was discovered in a new phase of matter where electron and hole pockets contact at isolated Weyl points. [Nature \textbf{527}, 495 (2015)] This raises an interesting question whether its counterpart, i.e., type-II \textit{Dirac} fermion, exists in real materials. Here, we predict the existence of symmetry-protected type-II Dirac fermions in a class of transition metal dichalcogenide materials. Our first-principles calculations on PtSe$_2$ reveal its bulk type-II Dirac fermions which …
Massless Dirac fermions in graphene can acquire a mass through different kinds of sublattice-symmetry-breaking perturbations, and there is a growing need to determine this mass using a conventional method. We describe how the mass caused by a staggered sublattice potential is determined using Raman spectroscopy and explain the mechanism in terms of the pseudospin polarization of massive Dirac fermions.
Topological insulators (TIs) are a unique class of materials characterized by a surface (edge) Dirac cone state of helical Dirac fermions in the middle of bulk (surface) gap. When the thickness (width) of TIs is reduced, however, interaction between the surface (edge) states will open a gap removing the Dirac cone. Using density function theory calculation, we demonstrate the creation of helical Dirac fermions from interfacing two gapped TI films, a single bilayer Bi grown on a single quintuple layer Bi2Se3 or Bi2Te3. The theoretical prediction is directly confirmed by experiment. We further s…
Symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases are gapped phases of matter that cannot be deformed to a trivial phase without breaking the symmetry or closing the bulk gap. Here, we introduce a new notion of a topological obstruction that is not captured by bulk energy gap closings in periodic boundary conditions. More specifically, we say two bulk Hamiltonians belong to distinct boundary obstructed topological `phases' (BOTPs) if they can be deformed to each other on a system with periodic boundaries, but cannot be deformed to each other for symmetric open boundaries without closing the gap at a…
Borophene is a monolayer materials made of boron. A perfect planar boropehene called $β_{12}$ borophene has Dirac cones and they are well reproduced by a tight-binding model according to recent experimental and first-principles calculation results. We explicitly derive a Dirac theory for them. Dirac cones are gapless when the inversion symmetry exists, while they are gapped when it is broken. In addition, three-band touching points emerge together with pseudospin triplet fermions when all transfer energy is equal and all on-site energy is equal. The three-band touching is slightly resolved oth…
Coherent coupling of Dirac fermion magneto-excitons with an optical phonon is observed in graphite as marked magnetic-field dependent splittings and anti-crossing behavior of the two coupled modes. The sharp magneto-phonon resonance occurs in regions of the graphite sample with properties of superior single-layer graphene having enhanced lifetimes of Dirac fermions. The greatly reduced carrier broadening to values below the graphene electron-phonon coupling constant explains the appearance of sharp resonances that reveal a fundamental interaction of Dirac fermions.
We show that Dirac fermion systems in two dimensions generally exhibit disorder-induced nodal arc replacing the nodal point and tilted Dirac cone, provided that the two components of the Dirac fermion correspond to two distinct orbitals unrelated by symmetry. This result is explicitly demonstrated using renormalization group analysis in a disordered Dirac model that we introduce, where the disorder potential acts differently on the two orbitals. As we show by numerical simulations and self-consistent Born approximation calculation, this drives the system into a new strongly disordered phase.
Magnetic texturing on the surface of a topological insulator allows the design of wave guide networks and beam splitters for domain-wall Dirac fermions. Guided by simple analytic arguments we model a Dirac fermion interferometer consisting of two parallel pathways, whereby a newly developed staggered-grid leap-frog discretization scheme in 2+1 dimensions with absorbing boundary conditions is employed. The net transmission can be tuned between constructive to destructive interference, either by variation of the magnetization (path length) or an applied bias (wave length). Based on this principl…
The analogues of elementary particles have been extensively searched for in condensed matter systems because of both scientific interests and technological applications. Recently massless Dirac fermions were found to emerge as low energy excitations in the materials named Dirac semimetals. All the currently known Dirac semimetals are nonmagnetic with both time-reversal symmetry $\mathcal{T}$ and inversion symmetry $\mathcal{P}$. Here we show that Dirac fermions can exist in one type of antiferromagnetic systems, where $\mathcal{T}$ and $\mathcal{P}$ are broken but their combination $\mathcal{P…
We study theoretically a strongly type-II s-wave superconducting state of two-dimensional Dirac fermions in proximity to a ferromagnet having in-plane magnetization. It is shown that a magnetic domain wall can host a chain of equally spaced vortices in the superconducting order parameter, each of which binds a Majorana fermion state. The overlap integral of neighboring Majorana states is sensitive to the position of the chemical potential of the Dirac fermions. This leads to a characteristic V-shaped dependence of thermal conductivity of Majorana fermions on the chemical potential.
Quasiparticle excitations beyond Dirac-Weyl-Majorana classification can appear in lattice systems due to the less symmetry constraint compared with Poincaré symmetry in high energy physics. In particular, fermions with an integer spin can appear in a variety of lattices. Here, we show that two-dimensional spin-1 fermion may coexist with Dirac fermions in the triangular kagome lattice (TKL). We derive a four-band effective model that hosts both types of fermions. The effective model can be used to study the interplay between spin-1 and spin-1/2 fermions. As an example, using this model we show …
We study the symmetry classes for the random Dirac fermions in 2 dimensions. We consider $N_f$ species of fermions, coupled by different types of disorder. We analyse the renormalisation group flow at the order of one loop. At $N_f$ large, the disorder distribution flows to an isotropic distribution and the effective action is a sigma model.
We present a detailed classification of random Dirac hamiltonians in two spatial dimensions based on the implementation of discrete symmetries. Our classification is slightly finer than that of random matrices, and contains thirteen classes. We also extend this classification to non-hermitian hamiltonians with and without Dirac structure.
We propose a particle-hole symmetric theory of the Fermi-liquid ground state of a half-filled Landau level. This theory should be applicable for a Dirac fermion in the magnetic field at charge neutrality, as well as for the $ν=\frac12$ quantum Hall ground state of nonrelativistic fermions in the limit of negligible inter-Landau-level mixing. We argue that when particle-hole symmetry is exact, the composite fermion is a massless Dirac fermion, characterized by a Berry phase of $π$ around the Fermi circle. We write down a tentative effective field theory of such a fermion and discuss the discret…
We present evidence that two dimensional Dirac fermions in the presence of random Abelian gauge potential exhibit a phase transition when the disorder strength exceeds a certain critical value. We argue that this phase transition has novel properties unique to disordered systems. It resembles in many ways the transition from dilute to dense polymers phase in two dimension. In particular, we argue that the central charge of the disordered Dirac fermions, being $c=0$ before the transition, changes to $c=-2$. We discuss possible implications to quantum Hall transitions, in view of recently propos…
