Realistic time-reversal invariant topological insulators with neutral atoms.
نویسندگان
چکیده
We lay out an experiment to realize time-reversal invariant topological insulators in alkali atomic gases. We introduce an original method to synthesize a gauge field in the near field of an atom chip, which effectively mimics the effects of spin-orbit coupling and produces quantum spin-Hall states. We also propose a feasible scheme to engineer sharp boundaries where the hallmark edge states are localized. Our multiband system has a large parameter space exhibiting a variety of quantum phase transitions between topological and normal insulating phases. Because of their remarkable versatility, cold-atom systems are ideally suited to realize topological states of matter and drive the development of topological quantum computing.
منابع مشابه
Detecting topological phases in cold atoms.
Chern insulators are band insulators which exhibit a gap in the bulk and gapless excitations in the edge. Detection of Chern insulators is a serious challenge in cold atoms since the Hall transport measurements are technically unrealistic for neutral atoms. By establishing a natural correspondence between the time-reversal invariant topological insulator and the quantum anomalous Hall system, w...
متن کاملSpin-orbit-free topological insulators without time-reversal symmetry.
We explore the 32 crystallographic point groups and identify topological phases of matter with robust surface modes. For n=3,4, and 6 of the C_{nv} groups, we find the first-known 3D topological insulators without spin-orbit coupling, and with surface modes that are protected only by point groups; i.e., the relevant symmetries are purely crystalline and do not include time reversal. To describe...
متن کاملA symmetry-respecting topologically-ordered surface phase of 3d electron topological insulators
A 3d electron topological insulator (ETI) is a phase of matter protected by particle-number conservation and time-reversal symmetry. It was previously believed that the surface of an ETI must be gapless unless one of these symmetries is broken. A well-known symmetry-preserving, gapless surface termination of an ETI supports an odd number of Dirac cones. In this paper we deduce a symmetry-respec...
متن کاملProbing topological protection using a designer surface plasmon structure
Topological photonic states, inspired by robust chiral edge states in topological insulators, have recently been demonstrated in a few photonic systems, including an array of coupled on-chip ring resonators at communication wavelengths. However, the intrinsic difference between electrons and photons determines that the 'topological protection' in time-reversal-invariant photonic systems does no...
متن کاملFractional S-duality, Classification of Fractional Topological Insulators and Surface Topological Order
In this paper, we propose a generalization of the S-duality of four-dimensional quantum electrodynamics (QED 4 ) to QED 4 with fractionally charged excitations, the fractional S-duality. Such QED 4 can be obtained by gauging the U(1) symmetry of a topologically ordered state with fractional charges. When time-reversal symmetry is imposed, the axion angle (θ) can take a nontrivial but still time...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Physical review letters
دوره 105 25 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2010