Topological magnon insulator with a Kekulé bond modulation

Abstract

We examine the combined effects of a Kekulé coupling texture (KC) and a Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) in a two-dimensional ferromagnetic honeycomb lattice. By analyzing the gap closing conditions and the inversions of the bulk bands, we identify the parameter range in which the system behaves as a trivial or a nontrivial topological magnon insulator. We find four topological phases in terms of the KC parameter and the DMI strength. We present the bulk-edge correspondence for the magnons in a honeycomb lattice with an armchair or a zigzag boundary. Furthermore, we find Tamm-like edge states due to the intrinsic on-site interactions along the boundary sites. Our results may have significant implications to magnon transport properties in the 2D magnets at low temperatures.