Elastic gauge fields and zero-field three-dimensional quantum Hall effect in hyperhoneycomb lattices

Abstract

Dirac materials respond to lattice deformations as if the electrons were coupled to gauge fields. We derive the elastic gauge fields in the hyperhoneycomb lattice, a three dimensional (3D) structure with trigonally connected sites. In its semimetallic form, this lattice is a nodal-line semimetal with a closed loop of Dirac nodes. Using strain engineering, we find a whole family of strain deformations that create uniform nearly flat Landau levels in 3D. We propose that those Landau levels can be created and tuned in metamaterials with the application of a simple uniaxial temperature gradient. In the 3D quantum anomalous Hall phase, which is topological, we show that the components of the elastic Hall viscosity tensor are multiples of $\eta_{H}=\beta^{2}\sqrt{3}/\left(8\pi a^{3}\right)$, where $\beta$ is an elastic parameter and $a$ is the lattice constant.