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Article Dans Une Revue Phys.Rev.A Année : 2018

$SU(3)$ Topological Insulators in the Honeycomb Lattice

Résumé

We investigate realizations of topological insulators with spin-1 bosons loaded in a honeycomb optical lattice and subjected to a SU(3) spin-orbit coupling—a situation which can be realized experimentally using cold atomic gases. In this paper, we focus on the topological properties of the single-particle band structure, namely, Chern numbers (lattice with periodic boundary conditions) and edge states (lattice with strip geometry) and their connection to time-reversal symmetry and the sublattice symmetry. While SU(2) spin-orbit couplings always lead to time-reversal symmetric tight-binding models, and thereby to topologically trivial band structures, suitable SU(3) spin-orbit couplings can break time-reversal symmetry and lead to topologically nontrivial bulk band structures and to edge states in the strip geometry. In addition, we show that one can trigger a series of topological transitions (i.e., integer changes of the Chern numbers) that are specific to the geometry of the honeycomb lattice by varying a single parameter in the Hamiltonian.

Dates et versions

hal-01903162 , version 1 (24-10-2018)

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Ulrike Bornheimer, Christian Miniatura, Benoît Grémaud. $SU(3)$ Topological Insulators in the Honeycomb Lattice. Phys.Rev.A, 2018, 98 (4), pp.043614. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.98.043614⟩. ⟨hal-01903162⟩
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