Sublattice structure and topology in spontaneously crystallized electronic states

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Hauptverfasser: Zeng, Yongxin, Guerci, Daniele, Crépel, Valentin, Millis, Andrew J., Cano, Jennifer
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Zeng, Yongxin
Guerci, Daniele
Crépel, Valentin
Millis, Andrew J.
Cano, Jennifer
author_facet Zeng, Yongxin
Guerci, Daniele
Crépel, Valentin
Millis, Andrew J.
Cano, Jennifer
contents The prediction and realization of the quantum anomalous Hall effect are often intimately connected to honeycomb lattices in which the sublattice degree of freedom plays a central role in the nontrivial topology. Two-dimensional Wigner crystals, on the other hand, form triangular lattices without sublattice degrees of freedom, resulting in a topologically trivial state. In this Letter, we discuss the possibility of spontaneously formed honeycomb-lattice crystals that exhibit the quantum anomalous Hall effect. Starting from a single-band system with nontrivial quantum geometry, we derive the mean-field energy functional of a class of crystal states and express it as a model of sublattice pseudospins in momentum space. We find that nontrivial quantum geometry leads to extra terms in the pseudospin model that break an effective `time-reversal symmetry' and favor a topologically nontrivial pseudospin texture. When the effects of these extra terms dominate over the ferromagnetic exchange coupling between pseudospins, the anomalous Hall crystal state becomes energetically favorable over the trivial Wigner crystal state.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_17867
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sublattice structure and topology in spontaneously crystallized electronic states
Zeng, Yongxin
Guerci, Daniele
Crépel, Valentin
Millis, Andrew J.
Cano, Jennifer
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
The prediction and realization of the quantum anomalous Hall effect are often intimately connected to honeycomb lattices in which the sublattice degree of freedom plays a central role in the nontrivial topology. Two-dimensional Wigner crystals, on the other hand, form triangular lattices without sublattice degrees of freedom, resulting in a topologically trivial state. In this Letter, we discuss the possibility of spontaneously formed honeycomb-lattice crystals that exhibit the quantum anomalous Hall effect. Starting from a single-band system with nontrivial quantum geometry, we derive the mean-field energy functional of a class of crystal states and express it as a model of sublattice pseudospins in momentum space. We find that nontrivial quantum geometry leads to extra terms in the pseudospin model that break an effective `time-reversal symmetry' and favor a topologically nontrivial pseudospin texture. When the effects of these extra terms dominate over the ferromagnetic exchange coupling between pseudospins, the anomalous Hall crystal state becomes energetically favorable over the trivial Wigner crystal state.
title Sublattice structure and topology in spontaneously crystallized electronic states
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.17867