SU(3) topological insulators in the honeycomb lattice
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...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103488 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/47327 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | 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. |
|---|