Fractional corner charges in spin-orbit coupled crystals

We study two-dimensional spinful insulating phases of matter that are protected by time-reversal and crystalline symmetries. To characterize these phases, we employ the concept of corner charge fractionalization: corners can carry charges that are fractions of even multiples of the electric charge....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Frank Schindler, Marta Brzezińska, Wladimir A. Benalcazar, Mikel Iraola, Adrien Bouhon, Stepan S. Tsirkin, Maia G. Vergniory, Titus Neupert
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2019-11-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.033074
Description
Summary:We study two-dimensional spinful insulating phases of matter that are protected by time-reversal and crystalline symmetries. To characterize these phases, we employ the concept of corner charge fractionalization: corners can carry charges that are fractions of even multiples of the electric charge. The charges are quantized and topologically stable as long as all symmetries are preserved. We classify the different corner charge configurations for all point groups, and match them with the corresponding bulk topology. For this we employ symmetry indicators and (nested) Wilson loop invariants. We provide formulas that allow for a convenient calculation of the corner charge from Bloch wave functions and illustrate our results using the example of arsenic and antimony monolayers. Depending on the degree of structural buckling, these materials can exhibit two distinct obstructed atomic limits. We present density functional theory calculations for open flakes to support our findings.
ISSN:2643-1564