We propose a general principle for realizing second-order topological corner states in the modified Kane-Mele model with magnetization. It is demonstrated that the sign of the edge Dirac mass depends on the magnetization of the edge sublattice termination. By adjusting the directions of magnetization according to the type of sublattice at the termination of two edges, a mass domain wall can be induced in the presence of topological corner states at an arbitrary position. All previous work on introducing magnetization in the Kane-Mele model to realize second-order topological corner states can be explained by the presence of the Dirac mass domain wall with opposite signs. Applying this principle, we design square-shaped and armchair-type hexagon-shaped graphene nanoflakes with edge magnetization, allowing for the emergence of second-order topological corner states. Our findings serve as a general theory, demonstrating that the realization of second-order topological corner states is not limited by boundary type or nanoflake shape.
The entanglement Chern number, the Chern number for the entanglement Hamiltonian, is used to charac- terize the Kane-Mele model, which is a typical model of the quantum spin Hall phase with the time reversal symmetry. We first obtain the global phase diagram of the Kane-Mele model in terms of the entanglement spin Chern number, which is defined by using a spin subspace as a subspace to be traced out in preparing the entanglement Hamiltonian. We further demonstrate the effectiveness of the entanglement Chern number without the time reversal symmetry and spin conservation by extending the Kane-M…
We compute analytic expressions for the edge states in a zigzag Kane-Mele nanoribbon (KMNR) by solving the eigenvalue equations in presence of intrinsic and Rashba spin-orbit couplings. Owing to the P-T symmetry of the Hamiltonian the edge states are protected by topological invariance and hence are found to be robust. We have done a systematic study for each of the above cases, for example, a pristine graphene, graphene with an intrinsic spin-orbit coupling, graphene with a Rashba spin-orbit coupling, a Kane-Mele nanoribbon and supported our results on the robustness of the edge states by ana…
In our previous publication [S. Ozaki and M. Ogata, Phys. Rev. Research 3, 013058], the quantization of the orbital-Zeeman (OZ) cross term in the magnetic susceptibility, or the cross term of spin Zeeman and orbital effect, was shown for the Kane-Mele model using the expansion around the Dirac points. In the present study, we accurately evaluate the orbital, spin-Zeeman, and OZ cross term of the Kane-Mele model using a recently developed formulation. This formula is written in terms of the explicit Bloch wave functions, and enables us to evaluate each contribution taking account of the integra…
On the efforts of enhancing the spin orbit interaction (SOI) of graphene for seeking the dissipationless quantum spin Hall devices, unique Kane-Mele type SOI and high mobility samples are desired. However, common external decoration often introduces extrinsic Rashba-type SOI and simultaneous impurity scattering. Here we show, by the EDTA-Dy molecule decorating, the Kane-Mele type SOI is mimicked with even improved carrier mobility. It is evidenced by the suppressed weak localization at equal carrier densities and simultaneous Elliot-Yafet spin relaxation. The extracted spin scattering time is …
We have studied thermoelectric effect of a Kane-Mele normal-insulator-superconductor (KMNIS) junction at ultra-low temperatures using a modified version of the well-known Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) theory. Since both the (electronic) charge and thermal current due to the carriers are sensitive to the strengths of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) present in the Kane-Mele model, a tunability of this junction device with regard to its thermoelectric properties can be experimentally achieved by certain techniques that are used to manipulate the values of the spin-orbit couplings. We have computed…
Depositing Au on a graphene derivate, which involves substituting four C atoms with three N atoms in a $3\times 3$ cell graphene, we realized a topological insulator of the Kane-Mele model with a gap of 50~meV surrounding the Dirac point of graphene. In this material, we observed an anomalous band inversion (BI) protected by the symmetry with character $e$ of group C$_{\rm 3V}$. The symmetry constrains two $e$ bands with mirror-symmetry combination (MSC) and mirror-antisymmetry combination (MAC) of Au and N orbitals degenerate at $Γ$, whereas the interaction of $π^*$ of graphene on the $e$-MAC…
The recent observations of nonlinear Hall effect in time-reversal symmetry protected systems and on the surface of three-dimensional topological insulators due to an in-plane magnetic field have attracted immense experimental and theoretical investigations in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides and Weyl semimetals. The origin of this type of second order effect has been attributed to the emergence of a Berry curvature dipole, which requires a low-symmetry environment. Here, we propose a mechanism for generating such a second order nonlinear Hall effect in Kane-Mele two-dimensional…
It has been proposed that adding disorder to a topologically trivial mercury telluride/cadmium telluride (HgTe/CdTe) quantum well can induce a transition to a topologically nontrivial state. The resulting state was termed topological Anderson insulator and was found in computer simulations of the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model. Here, we show that the topological Anderson insulator is a more universal phenomenon and also appears in the Kane-Mele model of topological insulators on a honeycomb lattice. We numerically investigate the interplay of the relevant parameters, and establish the parameter r…
In this work we use Floquet theory to theoretically study the influence of circularly polarized light on disordered two-dimensional models exhibiting topological transitions. We find circularly polarized light can induce a topological transition in extended Kane-Mele models that include additional hopping terms and on-site disorder. The topological transitions are understood from the Floquet-Bloch band structure of the clean system at high symmetry points in the first Brillouin zone. The light modifies the equilibrium band structure of the clean system in such a way that the smallest gap in th…
Fundamental research and technological applications of topological insulators are hindered by the rarity of materials exhibiting a robust topologically non-trivial phase, especially in two dimensions. Here, by means of extensive first-principles calculations, we propose a novel quantum spin Hall insulator with a sizeable band gap of $\sim$0.5 eV that is a monolayer of Jacutingaite, a naturally occurring layered mineral first discovered in 2008 in Brazil and recently synthesised. This system realises the paradigmatic Kane-Mele model for quantum spin Hall insulators in a potentially exfoliable t…
Monolayer graphene embedded with transition metal nitride (i.e., $X$N$_4$) has been experimentally synthesized recently, where a transition metal atom together with four nitrogen atoms as a unit are embedded in graphene to form a stable planar single-atom-thick structure. We provide a systematic study on the structural, electronic and topological properties of these $X$N$_4$-embedded graphene by utilizing both first-principles calculations and tight-binding model. We find that $X$N$_4$-embedded graphene ($X$=Pt, Ir, Rh, Os) can open topologically nontrivial band gaps that host \emph{two-dimens…
We theoretically study a spin Hamiltonian for spin-orbit-coupled ferromagnets on the honeycomb lattice. We find that the effective Hamiltonian for magnons, a quanta of spin-wave excitations from ordered states, is equivalent to the Haldane model for electrons in the honeycomb lattice, which indicates the nontrivial topology of the magnon bands and the existence of the associated edge state. We also take the Schwinger boson (or bosonic spinon) representations of spins that are applicable both to ordered and disordered phases. We show that the spinon bands within the mean-field treatment are top…
Recently, the very first large-gap Kane-Mele quantum spin Hall insulator was predicted to be monolayer jacutingaite (Pt$_2$HgSe$_3$), a naturally-occurring exfoliable mineral discovered in Brazil in 2008. The stacking of quantum spin Hall monolayers into a van-der-Waals layered crystal typically leads to a (0;001) weak topological phase, which does not protect the existence of surface states on the (001) surface. Unexpectedly, recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments revealed the presence of surface states dispersing over large areas of the 001-surface Brillouin zone of jac…
Recent experimental success in the realization of two-dimensional (2D) magnetism has stimulated the search for new magnetic 2D materials with strong magnetic anisotropy and high Curie temperature. One promising subgroup of 2D magnetic systems are Dirac half-metals (DHM) which have gained a lot of interest recently, as they host a high-temperature quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE). This article discusses predictions for intrinsic DHMs and identifies them as realizations of the Kane-Mele Hubbard model at quarter filling. This proposed unification contributes to a firmer understanding of these…
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 vanishing of the topological properties of a quantum spin Hall insulator induced by a deformation of the band structure that interpolates between the Dirac and the semi-Dirac limits of a tight-binding model on a honeycomb lattice. The above scenario is mimicked in a simple model, where there exists a differential hopping along one of the three neighbours (say, $t_1$) compared to the other two (say, $t$). For $t_1 = t$, the properties of the quantum spin Hall phase is described by the familiar Kane Mele model, while $t<t_1<2t$ denotes a situation in which the spin resolved bands ar…
We study free, capped and encapsulated bilayer jacutingaite Pt$_2$HgSe$_3$ from first principles. While the free standing bilayer is a large gap trivial insulator, we find that the encapsulated structure has a small trivial gap due to the competition between sublattice symmetry breaking and sublattice-dependent next-nearest-neighbor hopping. Upon the application of a small perpendicular electric field, the encapsulated bilayer undergoes a topological transition towards a quantum spin Hall insulator. We find that this topological transition can be qualitatively understood by modeling the two la…
In this paper we generalize the definition of the FKMM-invariant introduced in [DG2] for the case of "Quaternionic" vector bundles over involutive base spaces endowed with free involution or with a non-finite fixed-point set. In [DG2] it has already be shown how the FKMM-invariant provides a cohomological description of the Fu-Kane-Mele index used to classify topological insulators in class AII. It follows that the FKMM-invariant described in this paper provides a cohomological generalization of the Fu-Kane-Mele index which is applicable to the classification of protected phases for other type…
In semimetals with time-reversal symmetry, the interplay between Weyl points and Fu-Kane-Mele indices results in coexisting surface Dirac cones and Fermi arcs that are transmutable without a topological phase transition. We show that Weyl points act as a new type of monopole, and that their connectivity is essential for capturing the full topology of semimetals and their role as intermediaries of topological insulator transitions. The history of Weyl point creation-annihilation provides a simple and mathematically equivalent way to classify semimetals, and directly prefigures the surface state…
We present homotopy theoretic and geometric interpretations of the Kane-Mele invariant for gapped fermionic quantum systems in three dimensions with time-reversal symmetry. We show that the invariant is related to a certain 4-equivalence which lends it an interpretation as an obstruction to a block decomposition of the sewing matrix up to nonequivariant homotopy. We prove a Mayer-Vietoris Theorem for manifolds with $\mathbb{Z}_2$-actions which intertwines Real and $\mathbb{Z}_2$-equivariant de Rham cohomology groups, and apply it to derive a new localisation formula for the Kane-Mele invariant…
Using the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model in the unrestricted mean field approximation, the effect of spin-orbit coupling, as an intrinsic parameter, and an in-plane transverse electric field, as an external parameter, on the electronic and magnetic properties of honeycomb zigzag nanoribbons are investigated in the presence of electron-electron interaction. Our calculations show that each of these parameters has significant effects on the physical properties of nanoribbons, and each of them independently transitions the nanoribbon from a magnetic to non-magnetic state. The process of change in some as…
The time-dependent state of a classical spin locally exchange coupled to an edge site of a Kane-Mele model in the topologically non-trivial phase is studied numerically by solving the full set of coupled microscopic equations of motion for the spin and the electron system. Dynamics in the long-time limit is accessible thanks to dissipative boundary conditions, applied to all but the zigzag edge of interest. We study means to control the state of the spin via transport of a spin-polarization cloud through the helical edge states. The cloud is formed at a distant edge site using a local magnetic…
Topological quantum phase transition in Kane-Mele-Kondo lattice model
我们系统地探讨了蜂窝晶格上的Kane-Mele-Kondo晶格模型的基态相图，特别是，我们专注于它的磁性，这在以前的出版物[Feng，Dai，Chung，and Si，Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{111}，016402（2013）]。除了在那篇论文中发现的近藤绝缘体之外，还发现了两种反铁磁自旋密度波相。一个是正常的反铁磁自旋密度波态，另一个是具有量子化自旋霍尔电导和螺旋边缘态的非平凡拓扑反铁磁自旋密度波态。量子自旋霍尔绝缘体被发现是不存在的，因为它总是不稳定的反铁磁自旋密度波状态，至少在我们的模型中的平均场水平。此外，两个自旋密度波相之间的跃迁是由三维量子电动力学描述的拓扑量子相变，其中传导电子对低能Dirac费米子有贡献，而局域自旋的自旋波涨落产生有效的动态U（1）规范场.这种非平凡的转变表现出自由基临界热力学、输运和单粒子行为，为这种转变提供了一个指纹。此外，反铁磁自旋密度波态到近藤绝缘体的跃迁是一阶的。两个新的磁相的引入及其拓扑量子相变显示了Kane-Mele-Kondo晶格模型中包含的丰富的内在物理。
We establish a connection between two recently-proposed approaches to the understanding of the geometric origin of the Fu-Kane-Mele invariant $\mathrm{FKM} \in \mathbb{Z}_2$, arising in the context of 2-dimensional time-reversal symmetric topological insulators. On the one hand, the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariant can be formulated in terms of the Berry connection and the Berry curvature of the Bloch bundle of occupied states over the Brillouin torus. On the other, using techniques from the theory of bundle gerbes it is possible to provide an expression for $\mathrm{FKM}$ containing the square root o…
Explicit derivation of the chiral and (generic) helical edge states for the Kane-Mele model: Closed expressions for the wave function, dispersion relation, and spin rotation
We investigate a second-order topological quantum transition of a modified Kane-Mele model driven by electron-phonon interaction. The results show that the system parameters of the bare modified Kane-Mele model are renormalized by the electron-phonon interaction. Starting from the second-order topological phase for the bare model, the increasing electron-phonon coupling strength can drive the second-order topological insulator into a semimetal phase. Such a secondorder topological phase transition is characterized by the band-gap closing, discontinuity of averaged ferminoic number and topologi…
Spin orbit coupling (SOC) is the key to realizing time-reversal invariant topological phases of matter. Famously, SOC was predicted by Kane and Mele to stabilize a quantum spin Hall insulator; however, the weak intrinsic SOC in monolayer graphene has precluded experimental observation. Here, we exploit a layer-selective proximity effect---achieved via van der Waals contact to a semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenide--to engineer Kane-Mele SOC in ultra-clean \textit{bilayer} graphene. Using high-resolution capacitance measurements to probe the bulk electronic compressibility, we find th…
We study graphene which has both spin-orbit coupling (SOC), taken to be of the Kane-Mele form, and a Zeeman field induced due to proximity to a ferromagnetic material. We show that a zigzag interface of graphene having SOC with its pristine counterpart hosts robust chiral edge modes in spite of the gapless nature of the pristine graphene; such modes do not occur for armchair interfaces. Next we study the change in the local density of states (LDOS) due to the presence of an impurity in graphene with SOC and Zeeman field, and demonstrate that the Fourier transform of the LDOS close to the Dirac…
Higher-order topological phase in 2-dimensional (2D) systems is characterized by in-gap corner states, which are hard to detect and utilize. We numerically investigate transport properties of topological corner states in 2D honeycomb lattice, where the second-order topological phase is induced by an in-plane Zeeman field in the conventional Kane-Mele model. Through engineering multihollow structures with appropriate boundaries in honeycomb lattice, multiple corner states emerge, which greatly increases the probability to observe them. A typical two-probe setup is built to study the transport f…
We theoretically demonstrate that the second-order topological insulator with robust corner states can be realized in two-dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological insulators by applying an in-plane Zeeman field. Zeeman field breaks the time-reversal symmetry and thus destroys the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological phase. Nevertheless, it respects some crystalline symmetries and thus can protect the higher-order topological phase. By taking the Kane-Mele model as a concrete example, we find that spin-helical edge states along zigzag boundaries are gapped out by Zeeman field whereas in-gap corner state at…
Recently, a new type of second-order topological insulator has been theoretically proposed by introducing an in-plane Zeeman field into the Kane-Mele model in the two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. A pair of topological corner states arise at the corners with obtuse angles of an isolated diamond-shaped flake. To probe the corner states, we study their transport properties by attaching two leads to the system. Dressed by incoming electrons, the dynamic corner state is very different from its static counterpart. Resonant tunneling through the dressed corner state can occur by tuning the in-plane…
The higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs), with such as the topological corner states, emerge as a thriving topic in the field of topological physics. But few connections have been found for the HOTIs with the well explored first-order topological insulators described by the Z_2 index. However, most recently, a proposal asserts that a significant bridge can be established between the HOTIs and the Z_2 topological insulators. When subject to an in-plane Zeeman field, the corner states, the signature of the HOTIs, can be induced in a Z_2 topological insulator. Such Zeeman field can be prod…
