Realizing Hopf insulators in dipolar spin systems

Schuster, Thomas, Flicker, Felix ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8362-1384, Li, Ming, Kotochigova, Svetlana, Moore, Joel E., Ye, Jun and Yao, Norman Y. 2021. Realizing Hopf insulators in dipolar spin systems. Physical Review Letters 127 (1-2) , 015301. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.015301

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Abstract

The Hopf insulator is a weak topological insulator characterized by an insulating bulk with conducting edge states protected by an integer-valued linking number invariant. The state exists in three-dimensional two-band models. We demonstrate that the Hopf insulator can be naturally realized in lattices of dipolar-interacting spins, where spin exchange plays the role of particle hopping. The long-ranged, anisotropic nature of the dipole-dipole interactions allows for the precise detail required in the momentum-space structure, while different spin orientations ensure the necessary structure of the complex phases of the hoppings. Our model features robust gapless edge states at both smooth edges, as well as sharp edges obeying a certain crystalline symmetry, despite the breakdown of the two-band picture at the latter. In a companion manuscript [1], we provide a specific experimental blueprint for implementing our proposal using ultracold polar molecules of 40K 87Rb.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	American Physical Society
ISSN:	0031-9007
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	26 July 2021
Date of Acceptance:	19 April 2021
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2024 18:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/142901

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