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Measuring topology in a laser-coupled honeycomb lattice: from Chern insulators to topological semi-metals.
- Source :
-
New Journal of Physics . Jan2013, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p1-30. 30p. - Publication Year :
- 2013
-
Abstract
- Ultracold fermions trapped in a honeycomb optical lattice constitute a versatile setup to experimentally realize the Haldane model (1988 Phys. Rev. Lett. 61 2015). In this system, a non-uniform synthetic magnetic flux can be engineered through laser-induced methods, explicitly breaking time-reversal symmetry. This potentially opens a bulk gap in the energy spectrum, which is associated with a non-trivial topological order, i.e. a non-zero Chern number. In this paper, we consider the possibility of producing and identifying such a robust Chern insulator in the laser-coupled honeycomb lattice. We explore a large parameter space spanned by experimentally controllable parameters and obtain a variety of phase diagrams, clearly identifying the accessible topologically non-trivial regimes. We discuss the signatures of Chern insulators in coldatom systems, considering available detection methods. We also highlight the existence of topological semi-metals in this system, which are gapless phases characterized by non-zero winding numbers, not present in Haldane's original model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13672630
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- New Journal of Physics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 86671047
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/15/1/013025