Half-quantized Hall states with C=3/2 exited by chiral photons

Abstract

The topology of Hilbert space in semiconductor quantum wells (QW) can become non-trivial when excited by an electromagnetic wave. It means the quasi-energy bands acquire a nonzero integer Floquet-Chern number even if QW is trivial in the equilibrium. We analyze electron-photon interaction in the Floquet state and identify dynamical quantum phases characterized by half-quantized Floquet-Chern numbers. The non-integer topology depends on which equilibrium state is exposed to illumination. Trivial III-V semiconductor QW's such as AlGaAs and AlGaN, being resonantly illuminated, generate the dynamical index |CF|=1/2, similar to a gapless quantum anomalous semimetal (QAS) in equilibrium. Excitation of 2D topological insulator CdHgTe reveals |CF|=3/2 - the index stemmed exclusively from interaction with chiral photons. Comparing results obtained in continuous and full-Brillouin zone (BZ) models, we conclude that high-momentum regions in BZ contribute to the dynamical half-quantized topology. Results indicate that by manipulating parameters of external force, one can bring inverted-gap QW into a non-equilibrium state with a high topological non-integer charge |CF|=3/2. We present the phase diagram, which includes all dynamical states of non-trivial topology.