scholarly journals A fractional corner anomaly reveals higher-order topology

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 368 (6495) ◽  
pp. 1114-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Peterson ◽  
Tianhe Li ◽  
Wladimir A. Benalcazar ◽  
Taylor L. Hughes ◽  
Gaurav Bahl

Spectral measurements of boundary-localized topological modes are commonly used to identify topological insulators. For high-order insulators, these modes appear at boundaries of higher codimension, such as the corners of a two-dimensional material. Unfortunately, this spectroscopic approach is only viable if the energies of the topological modes lie within the bulk bandgap, which is not required for many topological crystalline insulators. The key topological feature in these insulators is instead fractional charge density arising from filled bulk bands, but measurements of such charge distributions have not been accessible to date. We experimentally measure boundary-localized fractional charge density in rotationally symmetric two-dimensional metamaterials and find one-fourth and one-third fractionalization. We then introduce a topological indicator that allows for the unambiguous identification of higher-order topology, even without in-gap states, and we demonstrate the associated higher-order bulk-boundary correspondence.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huaqing Huang ◽  
Feng Liu

ABSTRACT The higher-order topological insulator (HOTI) states, such as two-dimension (2D) HOTI featured with topologically protected corner modes at the intersection of two gapped crystalline boundaries, have attracted much recent interest. However, physical mechanism underlying the formation of HOTI states is not fully understood, which has hindered our fundamental understanding and discovery of HOTI materials. Here we propose a mechanistic approach to induce higher-order topological phases via structural buckling of 2D topological crystalline insulators (TCIs). While in-plane mirror symmetry is broken by structural buckling, which destroys the TCI state, the combination of mirror and rotation symmetry preserves in the buckled system, which gives rise to the HOTI state. We demonstrate that this approach is generally applicable to various 2D lattices with different symmetries and buckling patterns, opening a horizon of possible materials to realize 2D HOTIs. The HOTIs so generated are also shown to be robust against buckling height fluctuation and in-plane displacement. A concrete example is given for the buckled $\beta $-Sb monolayer from first-principles calculations. Our finding not only enriches our fundamental understanding of higher-order topology, but also opens a new route to discovering HOTI materials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunwoo Lee ◽  
Rokyeon Kim ◽  
Junyeong Ahn ◽  
Bohm-Jung Yang

AbstractBased on first-principles calculations and tight-binding model analysis, we propose monolayer graphdiyne as a candidate material for a two-dimensional higher-order topological insulator protected by inversion symmetry. Despite the absence of chiral symmetry, the higher-order topology of monolayer graphdiyne is manifested in the filling anomaly and charge accumulation at two corners. Although its low energy band structure can be properly described by the tight-binding Hamiltonian constructed by using only the pz orbital of each atom, the corresponding bulk band topology is trivial. The nontrivial bulk topology can be correctly captured only when the contribution from the core levels derived from px,y and s orbitals are included, which is further confirmed by the Wilson loop calculations. We also show that the higher-order band topology of a monolayer graphdyine gives rise to the nontrivial band topology of the corresponding three-dimensional material, ABC-stacked graphdiyne, which hosts monopole nodal lines and hinge states.


Author(s):  
N. Chinone ◽  
Y. Cho ◽  
R. Kosugi ◽  
Y. Tanaka ◽  
S. Harada ◽  
...  

Abstract A new technique for local deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) imaging using super-higher-order scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy is proposed. Using this technique. SiCVSiC structure samples with different post oxidation annealing conditions were measured. We observed that the local DLTS signal decreases with post oxidation annealing (POA), which agrees with the well-known phenomena that POA reduces trap density. Furthermore, obtained local DLTS images had dark and bright areas, which is considered to show the trap distribution at/near SiCVSiC interface.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexeï Bosak ◽  
Sofia-Michaela Souliou ◽  
Clément Faugeras ◽  
Rolf Heid ◽  
Maciej R. Molas ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
He Gao ◽  
Haoran Xue ◽  
Zhongming Gu ◽  
Tuo Liu ◽  
Jie Zhu ◽  
...  

AbstractTopological phases of matter are classified based on their Hermitian Hamiltonians, whose real-valued dispersions together with orthogonal eigenstates form nontrivial topology. In the recently discovered higher-order topological insulators (TIs), the bulk topology can even exhibit hierarchical features, leading to topological corner states, as demonstrated in many photonic and acoustic artificial materials. Naturally, the intrinsic loss in these artificial materials has been omitted in the topology definition, due to its non-Hermitian nature; in practice, the presence of loss is generally considered harmful to the topological corner states. Here, we report the experimental realization of a higher-order TI in an acoustic crystal, whose nontrivial topology is induced by deliberately introduced losses. With local acoustic measurements, we identify a topological bulk bandgap that is populated with gapped edge states and in-gap corner states, as the hallmark signatures of hierarchical higher-order topology. Our work establishes the non-Hermitian route to higher-order topology, and paves the way to exploring various exotic non-Hermiticity-induced topological phases.


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