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Journal ArticleDOI

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.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
20 Jul 2017-Nature
TL;DR: A complete electronic band theory is proposed, which builds on the conventional band theory of electrons, highlighting the link between the topology and local chemical bonding and can be used to predict many more topological insulators.
Abstract: Since the discovery of topological insulators and semimetals, there has been much research into predicting and experimentally discovering distinct classes of these materials, in which the topology of electronic states leads to robust surface states and electromagnetic responses. This apparent success, however, masks a fundamental shortcoming: topological insulators represent only a few hundred of the 200,000 stoichiometric compounds in material databases. However, it is unclear whether this low number is indicative of the esoteric nature of topological insulators or of a fundamental problem with the current approaches to finding them. Here we propose a complete electronic band theory, which builds on the conventional band theory of electrons, highlighting the link between the topology and local chemical bonding. This theory of topological quantum chemistry provides a description of the universal (across materials), global properties of all possible band structures and (weakly correlated) materials, consisting of a graph-theoretic description of momentum (reciprocal) space and a complementary group-theoretic description in real space. For all 230 crystal symmetry groups, we classify the possible band structures that arise from local atomic orbitals, and show which are topologically non-trivial. Our electronic band theory sheds new light on known topological insulators, and can be used to predict many more.

1,150 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work provides a comprehensive framework for generalized bulk-boundary correspondence and a quantized biorthogonal polarization that is formulated directly in systems with open boundaries, including exactly solvable non-Hermitian extensions of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model and Chern insulators.
Abstract: Non-Hermitian systems exhibit striking exceptions from the paradigmatic bulk-boundary correspondence, including the failure of bulk Bloch band invariants in predicting boundary states and the (dis)appearance of boundary states at parameter values far from those corresponding to gap closings in periodic systems without boundaries. Here, we provide a comprehensive framework to unravel this disparity based on the notion of biorthogonal quantum mechanics: While the properties of the left and right eigenstates corresponding to boundary modes are individually decoupled from the bulk physics in non-Hermitian systems, their combined biorthogonal density penetrates the bulk precisely when phase transitions occur. This leads to generalized bulk-boundary correspondence and a quantized biorthogonal polarization that is formulated directly in systems with open boundaries. We illustrate our general insights by deriving the phase diagram for several microscopic open boundary models, including exactly solvable non-Hermitian extensions of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model and Chern insulators.

916 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The notion of three-dimensional topological insulators is extended to systems that host no gapless surface states but exhibit topologically protected gapless hinge states and it is shown that SnTe as well as surface-modified Bi2TeI, BiSe, and BiTe are helical higher-order topology insulators.
Abstract: Three-dimensional topological (crystalline) insulators are materials with an insulating bulk, but conducting surface states which are topologically protected by time-reversal (or spatial) symmetries. Here, 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 spatio-temporal symmetries, of which we present two cases: (1) Chiral higher-order topological insulators protected by the combination of time-reversal and a four-fold rotation symmetry. Their hinge states are chiral modes and the bulk topology is $\mathbb{Z}_2$-classified. (2) Helical higher-order topological insulators protected by time-reversal and mirror symmetries. Their hinge states come in Kramers pairs and the bulk topology is $\mathbb{Z}$-classified. We provide the topological invariants for both cases. Furthermore we show that SnTe as well as surface-modified Bi$_2$TeI, BiSe, and BiTe are helical higher-order topological insulators and propose a realistic experimental setup to detect the hinge states.

864 citations


Cites background from "Quantized electric multipole insula..."

  • ...There, we also provide two further topological characterizations, one based on so-called nested Wilson loop (4) and entanglement spectra (21–23) and one applicable to systems that are in addition invariant under the product Î T̂ of inversion symmetry Î and T̂ (3)....

    [...]

  • ...(4) has introduced second-order 2D TIs and third-order 3D TIs....

    [...]

  • ...(4) generalize this bulk-boundary correspondence: In two and three dimensions, these insulators exhibit no edge or surface states, respectively, but feature gapless, topological corner excitations corresponding to quantized higher electric multipole moments....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Fourfold rotation-invariant gapped topological systems with time-reversal symmetry in two and three dimensions with strongly interacting systems through the explicit construction of microscopic models having robust (d-2)-dimensional edge states are studied.
Abstract: Theorists have discovered topological insulators that are insulating in their interior and on their surfaces but have conducting channels at corners or along edges.

826 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
15 Mar 2018-Nature
TL;DR: Measurements of a phononic quadrupole topological insulator are reported and topological corner states are found that are an important stepping stone to the experimental realization of topologically protected wave guides in higher dimensions, and thereby open up a new path for the design of metamaterials.
Abstract: The modern theory of charge polarization in solids is based on a generalization of Berry’s phase. The possibility of the quantization of this phase arising from parallel transport in momentum space is essential to our understanding of systems with topological band structures. Although based on the concept of charge polarization, this same theory can also be used to characterize the Bloch bands of neutral bosonic systems such as photonic or phononic crystals. The theory of this quantized polarization has recently been extended from the dipole moment to higher multipole moments. In particular, a two-dimensional quantized quadrupole insulator is predicted to have gapped yet topological one-dimensional edge modes, which stabilize zero-dimensional in-gap corner states. However, such a state of matter has not previously been observed experimentally. Here we report measurements of a phononic quadrupole topological insulator. We experimentally characterize the bulk, edge and corner physics of a mechanical metamaterial (a material with tailored mechanical properties) and find the predicted gapped edge and in-gap corner states. We corroborate our findings by comparing the mechanical properties of a topologically non-trivial system to samples in other phases that are predicted by the quadrupole theory. These topological corner states are an important stepping stone to the experimental realization of topologically protected wave guides in higher dimensions, and thereby open up a new path for the design of metamaterials.

818 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an overview of recent experimental and theoretical developments in the area of optical discrete solitons, which represent self-trapped wavepackets in nonlinear periodic structures and result from the interplay between lattice diffraction (or dispersion) and material nonlinearity.

973 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that the polarization as defined above also has a direct and predictive relationship to the surface charge which accumulates at an insulating surface or interface.
Abstract: A definition of the electric polarization of an insulating crystalline solid is given in terms of the centers of charge of the Wannier functions of the occupied bands The change of this quantity under an adiabatic evolution of the Hamiltonian has previously been shown to correspond to the physical change in polarization Here, we show that the polarization as defined above also has a direct and predictive relationship to the surface charge which accumulates at an insulating surface or interface

963 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Harper Hamiltonian for neutral particles in optical lattices is implemented using laser-assisted tunneling and a potential energy gradient provided by gravity or magnetic field gradients to describe the motion of charged particles in strong magnetic fields.
Abstract: We experimentally implement the Harper Hamiltonian for neutral particles in optical lattices using laser-assisted tunneling and a potential energy gradient provided by gravity or magnetic field gradients. This Hamiltonian describes the motion of charged particles in strong magnetic fields. Laser-assisted tunneling processes are characterized by studying the expansion of the atoms in the lattice. The band structure of this Hamiltonian should display Hofstadter's butterfly. For fermions, this scheme should realize the quantum Hall effect and chiral edge states.

946 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The orbital motion of electrons in a three-dimensional solid can generate a pseudoscalar magnetoelectric coupling theta, a fact that can be generalized to the many-particle wave function and defines the 3D topological insulator in terms of a topological ground-state response function.
Abstract: The orbital motion of electrons in a three-dimensional solid can generate a pseudoscalar magnetoelectric coupling $\ensuremath{\theta}$, a fact we derive for the single-particle case using a recent theory of polarization in weakly inhomogeneous materials. This polarizability $\ensuremath{\theta}$ is the same parameter that appears in the ``axion electrodynamics'' Lagrangian $\ensuremath{\Delta}{\mathcal{L}}_{EM}=(\ensuremath{\theta}{e}^{2}/2\ensuremath{\pi}h)\mathbf{E}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\mathbf{B}$, which is known to describe the unusual magnetoelectric properties of the three-dimensional topological insulator ($\ensuremath{\theta}=\ensuremath{\pi}$). We compute $\ensuremath{\theta}$ for a simple model that accesses the topological insulator and discuss its connection to the surface Hall conductivity. The orbital magnetoelectric polarizability can be generalized to the many-particle wave function and defines the 3D topological insulator, like the integer quantum Hall effect, in terms of a topological ground-state response function.

711 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an expression for the topological invariant of band insulators using the non-Abelian Berry connection was proposed. Butler et al. showed that this expression can be derived from the ''partner switching'' of the Wannier function center during time-reversal pumping and is thus equivalent to the ''topological invariants'' proposed by Kane and Mele.
Abstract: We introduce an expression for the ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ topological invariant of band insulators using the non-Abelian Berry connection. Our expression can identify the topological nature of a general band insulator without any of the gauge-fixing problems that plague the concrete implementation of previous invariants. This expression can be derived from the ``partner switching'' of the Wannier function center during time-reversal pumping and is thus equivalent to the ${Z}_{2}$ topological invariant proposed by Kane and Mele. Using our expression, we have recalculated the ${Z}_{2}$ topological index for several topological insulator material systems and obtained consistent results with the previous studies.

671 citations