Quantized electric multipole insulators
07 Jul 2017-Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science)-Vol. 357, Iss: 6346, pp 61-66
TL;DR: This work introduces a paradigm in which “nested” Wilson loops give rise to topological invariants that have been overlooked and opens a venue for the expansion of the classification of topological phases of matter.
Abstract: The Berry phase provides a modern formulation of electric polarization in crystals. We extend this concept to higher electric multipole moments and determine the necessary conditions and minimal models for which the quadrupole and octupole moments are topologically quantized electromagnetic observables. Such systems exhibit gapped boundaries that are themselves lower-dimensional topological phases. Furthermore, they host topologically protected corner states carrying fractional charge, exhibiting fractionalization at the boundary of the boundary. To characterize these insulating phases of matter, we introduce a paradigm in which “nested” Wilson loops give rise to topological invariants that have been overlooked. We propose three realistic experimental implementations of this topological behavior that can be immediately tested. Our work opens a venue for the expansion of the classification of topological phases of matter.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a topolectrical circuit design for realizing the corner modes is presented, where the modes appear as topological boundary resonances in the corner impedance profile of the circuit.
Abstract: Quantized electric quadrupole insulators have recently been proposed as novel quantum states of matter in two spatial dimensions. Gapped otherwise, they can feature zero-dimensional topological corner mid-gap states protected by the bulk spectral gap, reflection symmetries and a spectral symmetry. Here we introduce a topolectrical circuit design for realizing such corner modes experimentally and report measurements in which the modes appear as topological boundary resonances in the corner impedance profile of the circuit. Whereas the quantized bulk quadrupole moment of an electronic crystal does not have a direct analogue in the classical topolectrical-circuit framework, the corner modes inherit the identical form from the quantum case. Due to the flexibility and tunability of electrical circuits, they are an ideal platform for studying the reflection symmetry-protected character of corner modes in detail. Our work therefore establishes an instance where topolectrical circuitry is employed to bridge the gap between quantum theoretical modelling and the experimental realization of topological band structures.
809 citations
TL;DR: Using a recently developed formalism called topological quantum chemistry, a high-throughput search of ‘high-quality’ materials in the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database is performed and it is found that more than 27 per cent of all materials in nature are topological.
Abstract: Using a recently developed formalism called topological quantum chemistry, we perform a high-throughput search of 'high-quality' materials (for which the atomic positions and structure have been measured very accurately) in the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database in order to identify new topological phases. We develop codes to compute all characters of all symmetries of 26,938 stoichiometric materials, and find 3,307 topological insulators, 4,078 topological semimetals and no fragile phases. For these 7,385 materials we provide the electronic band structure, including some electronic properties (bandgap and number of electrons), symmetry indicators, and other topological information. Our results show that more than 27 per cent of all materials in nature are topological. We provide an open-source code that checks the topology of any material and allows other researchers to reproduce our results.
782 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors extend the notion of three-dimensional topological insulators to systems that host no gapless surface states but exhibit topologically protected gapless hinge states.
Abstract: Three-dimensional topological (crystalline) insulators are materials with an insulating bulk but conducting surface states that are topologically protected by time-reversal (or spatial) symmetries. We extend the notion of three-dimensional topological insulators to systems that host no gapless surface states but exhibit topologically protected gapless hinge states. Their topological character is protected by spatiotemporal symmetries of which we present two cases: (i) Chiral higher-order topological insulators protected by the combination of time-reversal and a fourfold rotation symmetry. Their hinge states are chiral modes, and the bulk topology is Z 2 -classified. (ii) Helical higher-order topological insulators protected by time-reversal and mirror symmetries. Their hinge states come in Kramers pairs, and the bulk topology is Z -classified. We provide the topological invariants for both cases. Furthermore, we show that SnTe as well as surface-modified Bi2TeI, BiSe, and BiTe are helical higher-order topological insulators and propose a realistic experimental setup to detect the hinge states.
720 citations
TL;DR: This work demonstrates experimentally a member of this predicted class of materials—a quantized quadrupole topological insulator—produced using a gigahertz-frequency reconfigurable microwave circuit, and provides conclusive evidence of a unique form of robustness against disorder and deformation, which is characteristic of higher-order topologicalinsulators.
Abstract: The theory of electric polarization in crystals defines the dipole moment of an insulator in terms of a Berry phase (geometric phase) associated with its electronic ground state. This concept not only solves the long-standing puzzle of how to calculate dipole moments in crystals, but also explains topological band structures in insulators and superconductors, including the quantum anomalous Hall insulator and the quantum spin Hall insulator, as well as quantized adiabatic pumping processes. A recent theoretical study has extended the Berry phase framework to also account for higher electric multipole moments, revealing the existence of higher-order topological phases that have not previously been observed. Here we demonstrate experimentally a member of this predicted class of materials-a quantized quadrupole topological insulator-produced using a gigahertz-frequency reconfigurable microwave circuit. We confirm the non-trivial topological phase using spectroscopic measurements and by identifying corner states that result from the bulk topology. In addition, we test the critical prediction that these corner states are protected by the topology of the bulk, and are not due to surface artefacts, by deforming the edges of the crystal lattice from the topological to the trivial regime. Our results provide conclusive evidence of a unique form of robustness against disorder and deformation, which is characteristic of higher-order topological insulators.
701 citations
Cites background from "Quantized electric multipole insula..."
...Our metamaterial implementation of the quadrupole topological insulator confirms the existence of the theoretically predicted corner modes [11] and firmly establishes their origin from the bulk quadrupole topology....
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...Microscopically, the corner charges are associated with four corner-localized modes that lie in the middle of the energy gap [11, 21] (Fig....
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...A recent theoretical proposal extended the Berry phase framework to account for higher electric multipole moments [11], revealing the existence of topological phases that have not previously been observed....
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...[11], in which a pair of simple electronic lattice models were proposed in 2D and 3D that exhibit the signatures of quantized electric quadrupole and octupole moments, respectively....
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TL;DR: A second-order topological insulator in d dimensions is an insulator which has no d-1 dimensional topological boundary states but has d-2 dimensional topology boundary states, which constitutes the bulk topological index.
Abstract: A second-order topological insulator in d dimensions is an insulator which has no d-1 dimensional topological boundary states but has d-2 dimensional topological boundary states. It is an extended notion of the conventional topological insulator. Higher-order topological insulators have been investigated in square and cubic lattices. In this Letter, we generalize them to breathing kagome and pyrochlore lattices. First, we construct a second-order topological insulator on the breathing Kagome lattice. Three topological boundary states emerge at the corner of the triangle, realizing a 1/3 fractional charge at each corner. Second, we construct a third-order topological insulator on the breathing pyrochlore lattice. Four topological boundary states emerge at the corners of the tetrahedron with a 1/4 fractional charge at each corner. These higher-order topological insulators are characterized by the quantized polarization, which constitutes the bulk topological index. Finally, we study a second-order topological semimetal by stacking the breathing kagome lattice.
627 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this article, the Hall voltage of a two-dimensional electron gas, realized with a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor, was measured and it was shown that the Hall resistance at particular, experimentally well-defined surface carrier concentrations has fixed values which depend only on the fine-structure constant and speed of light, and is insensitive to the geometry of the device.
Abstract: Measurements of the Hall voltage of a two-dimensional electron gas, realized with a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor, show that the Hall resistance at particular, experimentally well-defined surface carrier concentrations has fixed values which depend only on the fine-structure constant and speed of light, and is insensitive to the geometry of the device. Preliminary data are reported.
5,619 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the Hall conductance of a two-dimensional electron gas has been studied in a uniform magnetic field and a periodic substrate potential, where the Kubo formula is written in a form that makes apparent the quantization when the Fermi energy lies in a gap.
Abstract: The Hall conductance of a two-dimensional electron gas has been studied in a uniform magnetic field and a periodic substrate potential $U$. The Kubo formula is written in a form that makes apparent the quantization when the Fermi energy lies in a gap. Explicit expressions have been obtained for the Hall conductance for both large and small $\frac{U}{\ensuremath{\hbar}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{c}}$.
4,811 citations
TL;DR: A two-dimensional condensed-matter lattice model is presented which exhibits a nonzero quantization of the Hall conductance in the absence of an external magnetic field, and exhibits the so-called "parity anomaly" of (2+1)-dimensional field theories.
Abstract: A two-dimensional condensed-matter lattice model is presented which exhibits a nonzero quantization of the Hall conductance ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}^{\mathrm{xy}}$ in the absence of an external magnetic field. Massless fermions without spectral doubling occur at critical values of the model parameters, and exhibit the so-called "parity anomaly" of (2+1)-dimensional field theories.
4,606 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a method for determining the optimally localized set of generalized Wannier functions associated with a set of Bloch bands in a crystalline solid is presented, which is suitable for use in connection with conventional electronic-structure codes.
Abstract: We discuss a method for determining the optimally localized set of generalized Wannier functions associated with a set of Bloch bands in a crystalline solid. By ''generalized Wannier functions'' we mean a set of localized orthonormal orbitals spanning the same space as the specified set of Bloch bands. Although we minimize a functional that represents the total spread Sigma(n)(r(2))(n) - (r)(n)(2) of the Wannier functions in real space, our method proceeds directly from the Bloch functions as represented on a mesh of k points, and carries out the minimization in a space of unitary matrices U-mn((k)) describing the rotation among the Bloch bands at each k point. The method is thus suitable for use in connection with conventional electronic-structure codes. The procedure also returns the total electric polarization as well as the location of each Wannier center. Sample results for Si, GaAs, molecular C2H4, and LiCl will be presented.
3,155 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that physically $\ensuremath{\Delta}P can be interpreted as a displacement of the center of charge of the Wannier functions.
Abstract: We consider the change in polarization \ensuremath{\Delta}P which occurs upon making an adiabatic change in the Kohn-Sham Hamiltonian of the solid. A simple expression for \ensuremath{\Delta}P is derived in terms of the valence-band wave functions of the initial and final Hamiltonians. We show that physically \ensuremath{\Delta}P can be interpreted as a displacement of the center of charge of the Wannier functions. The formulation is successfully applied to compute the piezoelectric tensor of GaAs in a first-principles pseudopotential calculation.
3,136 citations