Kane-Mele Model Research Articles

Universalities of thermodynamic signatures in topological phases.

Topological insulators (superconductors) are materials that host symmetry-protected metallic edge states in an insulating (superconducting) bulk. Although they are well understood, a thermodynamic description of these materials remained elusive, firstly because the edges yield a non-extensive contribution to the thermodynamic potential, and secondly because topological field theories involve non-local order parameters, and cannot be captured by the Ginzburg-Landau formalism. Recently, this challenge has been overcome: by using Hill thermodynamics to describe the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model in two dimensions, it was shown that at the topological phase transition the thermodynamic potential does not scale extensively due to boundary effects. Here, we extend this approach to different topological models in various dimensions (the Kitaev chain and Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model in one dimension, the Kane-Mele model in two dimensions and the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model in three dimensions) at zero temperature. Surprisingly, all models exhibit the same universal behavior in the order of the topological-phase transition, depending on the dimension. Moreover, we derive the topological phase diagram at finite temperature using this thermodynamic description, and show that it displays a good agreement with the one calculated from the Uhlmann phase. Our work reveals unexpected universalities and opens the path to a thermodynamic description of systems with a non-local order parameter.

Realization of the Haldane-Kane-Mele Model in a System of Localized Spins.

We study a spin Hamiltonian for spin-orbit-coupled ferromagnets on the honeycomb lattice. At sufficiently low temperatures supporting the ordered phase, the effective Hamiltonian for magnons, the quanta of spin-wave excitations, is shown to be equivalent to the Haldane model for electrons, which indicates the nontrivial topology of the band and the existence of the associated edge state. At high temperatures comparable to the ferromagnetic-exchange strength, we take the Schwinger-boson representation of spins, in which the mean-field spinon band forms a bosonic counterpart of the Kane-Mele model. The nontrivial geometry of the spinon band can be inferred by detecting the spin Nernst effect. A feasible experimental realization of the spin Hamiltonian is proposed.

Thermoelectric properties of magnetic configurations of graphene-like nanoribbons in the presence of Rashba and spin–orbit interactions

In this paper we investigate the influence of spin–orbit interaction and two types of Rashba interaction (intrinsic and extrinsic) on magnetic and thermoelectric properties of graphene-like zigzag nanoribbons based on the honeycomb lattice. We utilize the Kane-Mele model with additional Rashba interaction terms. Magnetic structure is described by the electron-electron Coulomb repulsion reduced to the on-site interaction (Hubbard term) in the mean field approximation. We consider four types of magnetic configurations: ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic with in-plane and out-of plane direction of magnetization. Firstly, we analyze the influence of extrinsic Rashba coupling on systems with negligible spin–orbit interaction, e.g. graphene of an appropriate substrate. Secondly, we discuss the interplay between spin–orbit and intrinsic Rashba interactions. This part is relevant to materials with significant spin–orbit coupling such as silicene and stanene.

Pairing Mechanism of Unconventional Superconductivity in Doped Kane–Mele Model

We study the pairing symmetry of a doped Kane-Mele model on a honeycomb lattice with on-site Coulomb interaction. The pairing instability of Cooper pair is calculated based on the linearized Eliashberg equation within the random phase approximation (RPA). When the magnitude of the spin-orbit coupling is weak, even-frequency spin-singlet even-parity (ESE) pairing is dominant. On the other hand, with the increase of the spin-orbit coupling, we show that the even-frequency spin-triplet odd-parity (ETO) f-wave pairing exceeds ESE one. ETO f-wave pairing is supported by the longitudinal spin fluctuation. Since the transverse spin fluctuation is strongly suppressed by spin-orbit coupling, ETO f-wave pairing becomes dominant for large magnitude of spin-orbit coupling.

Cooperon condensation and intravalley pairing states in honeycomb Dirac systems

Motivated by recent developments in the experimental study of superconducting graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, we investigate superconductivity of the Kane-Mele (KM) model with short-range attractive interactions on the two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. We show that intra-valley spin-triplet pairing arises from nearest-neighbor (NN) attractive interaction and the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. We demonstrate this in two independent approaches: We study superconducting instability driven by condensation of Cooperons, which are in-gap bound states of two conduction electrons, within the $T$-matrix approximation and also study the superconducting ground state within the mean-field theory. We find that Cooperons with antiparallel spins condense at the $K$ and $K'$ points. This leads to the emergence of an intra-valley spin-triplet pairing state belonging to the irreducible representation A$_1$ of the point group $C_{6v}$. The fact that this pairing state has opposite chirality for $K$ and $K'$ identifies this state as a "helical" valley-triplet state, the valley-analog to the $^3$He-B phase in two dimension. Because of the finite center of mass momentum of Cooper pairs, the pair amplitude in NN bonds exhibits spatial modulation on the length scale of lattice constant, such that this pairing state may be viewed as a pair-density wave state. We find that the pair amplitude spontaneously breaks the translational symmetry and exhibits a $p$-Kekul\'e pattern. We also discuss the selection rule for pairing states focusing the characteristic band structure of the KM model and the Berry phase effects to the emergence of the intra-valley pairing state.

Topological phase in oxidized zigzag stanene nanoribbons

First-principles and semi-empirical tight binding calculations were performed to understand the adsorption of oxygen on the surface of two dimensional (2D) and zigzag stanene nano-ribbons. The intrinsic spin-orbit interaction is considered in the Kane-Mele tight binding model. The adsorption of an oxygen atom or molecule on the 2D stanene opens an electronic energy band gap. We investigate the helical edge states and topological phase in the pure zigzag stanene nano-ribbons. The adsorption of oxygen atoms on the zigzag stanene nano-ribbons deforms the helical edge states at the Fermi level which causes topological (non-trivial) to trivial phase transition. The structural stability of the systems is checked by performing Γ-point phonon calculations. Specific arrangements of adsorbed oxygen atoms on the surface of zigzag stanene nano-ribbons conserve the topological phase which has potential applications in future nano-electronic devices.

Erratum: "Relation between the spin Hall conductivity and the spin Chern number for Dirac-like systems"

A semiclassical formulation of the spin Hall effect for physical systems satisfying Dirac-like equation is introduced. We demonstrate that the main contribution to the spin Hall conductivity is given by the spin Chern number whether the spin is conserved or not at the quantum level. We illustrated the formulation within the Kane–Mele model of graphene in the absence and in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling term.

Emergence of magnetic topological states in topological insulators doped with magnetic impurities

Emergence of the topological invariant and the magnetic moment in topological insulators doped with magnetic impurities is studied based on a mutual cooperation between the spin-orbit coupling of electrons and the spin exchange of these electrons with magnetic impurity moments. The mutual cooperation is realized based on the Kane-Mele model in the presence of magnetic impurities. The topological invariants and the spontaneous magnetization are self-consistently determined within the dynamical mean-field theory. We find different magnetic topological phase transitions, depending on the electron filling. At half filling an antiferromagnetic topological insulator, which exhibits the quantum spin Hall effect, exists in the phase region between the paramagnetic topological insulator and the trivially topological antiferromagnetic insulator. At quarter and three-quarter fillings, a ferromagnetic topological insulator, which exhibits the quantum anomalous Hall effect, occurs in the strong spin-exchange regime.

Entanglement Chern Number of the Kane–Mele Model with Ferromagnetism

The entanglement Chern number, the Chern number for the entanglement Hamiltonian, is used to charac- terize the Kane-Mele model, which is a typical model of the quantum spin Hall phase with the time reversal symmetry. We first obtain the global phase diagram of the Kane-Mele model in terms of the entanglement spin Chern number, which is defined by using a spin subspace as a subspace to be traced out in preparing the entanglement Hamiltonian. We further demonstrate the effectiveness of the entanglement Chern number without the time reversal symmetry and spin conservation by extending the Kane-Mele model to include the Zeeman term. The numerical results confirm that the sum of the entanglement spin Chern number equals to the Chern number.

The topological Anderson insulator phase in the Kane-Mele model.

It has been proposed that adding disorder to a topologically trivial mercury telluride/cadmium telluride (HgTe/CdTe) quantum well can induce a transition to a topologically nontrivial state. The resulting state was termed topological Anderson insulator and was found in computer simulations of the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model. Here, we show that the topological Anderson insulator is a more universal phenomenon and also appears in the Kane-Mele model of topological insulators on a honeycomb lattice. We numerically investigate the interplay of the relevant parameters, and establish the parameter range in which the topological Anderson insulator exists. A staggered sublattice potential turns out to be a necessary condition for the transition to the topological Anderson insulator. For weak enough disorder, a calculation based on the lowest-order Born approximation reproduces quantitatively the numerical data. Our results thus considerably increase the number of candidate materials for the topological Anderson insulator phase.

Smooth gauge and Wannier functions for topological band structures in arbitrary dimensions

The construction of exponentially localized Wannier functions for a set of bands requires a choice of Bloch-like functions that span the space of the bands in question, and are smooth and periodic functions of k in the entire Brillouin zone. For bands with nontrivial topology, such smooth Bloch functions can only be chosen such that they do not respect the symmetries that protect the topology. This symmetry breaking is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for smoothness, and, in general, finding smooth Bloch functions for topological bands is a complicated task. We present a generic technique for finding smooth Bloch functions and constructing exponentially localized Wannier functions in the presence of nontrivial topology, given that the net Chern number of the bands in question vanishes. The technique is verified against known results in the Kane-Mele model. It is then applied to the topological insulator Bi2Se3, where the topological state is protected by two symmetries: time reversal and inversion. The resultant exponentially localized Wannier functions break both these symmetries. Finally, we illustrate how the calculation of the Chern-Simons orbital magnetoelectric response is facilitated by the proposed smooth gauge construction.

Anomalous band inversion protected by symmetry in a topological insulator of the Kane-Mele model

Depositing Au on a graphene derivate, which involves substituting four C atoms with three N atoms in a $3\times 3$ cell graphene, we realized a topological insulator of the Kane-Mele model with a gap of 50~meV surrounding the Dirac point of graphene. In this material, we observed an anomalous band inversion (BI) protected by the symmetry with character $e$ of group C$_{\rm 3V}$. The symmetry constrains two $e$ bands with mirror-symmetry combination (MSC) and mirror-antisymmetry combination (MAC) of Au and N orbitals degenerate at $\Gamma$, whereas the interaction of $\pi^*$ of graphene on the $e$-MAC band tends to lift this degenerate, resulting in that the $\pi^*$ and $e$-MAC band exchange their orbital components near $\Gamma$, causing thus a discontinued BI.

Relation between the spin Hall conductivity and the spin Chern number for Dirac-like systems

A semiclassical formulation of the spin Hall effect for physical systems satisfying Dirac-like equation is introduced. We demonstrate that the main contribution to the spin Hall conductivity is given by the spin Chern number whether the spin is conserved or not at the quantum level. We illustrated the formulation within the Kane–Mele model of graphene in the absence and in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling term.

A General Time-Periodic Driving Approach to Realize Topological Phases in Cold Atomic Systems.

For time-reversal symmetric cold atomic insulating systems, it is found that the usual driving approach based on electromagnetic field used in solid state systems loses its power to drive them from trivial regimes to topological regimes if the driven systems still hold time-reversal symmetry (TRS). For such systems, we point out that simply varying the optical lattice potential periodically provides a general and effective way to drive them into topological regimes without breaking their symmetries. Based on this approach, we find that the time-reversal symmetric Kane-Mele model can be effectively driven from the trivial phase to topological phases named as Floquet Quantum Spin Hall insulator. Due to the existence of two gaps in the Floquet system, this novel state of matter can stably host one or two pair of gapless helical states on the same boundary, which suggests this state is not a simple analog of the Quantum Spin Hall insulator. This new driving approach to a system without TRS is also investigated.

Curvature effects in the band structure of carbon nanotubes including spin–orbit coupling

The Kane–Mele model was previously used to describe effective spin–orbit couplings (SOCs) in graphene. Here we extend this model and also incorporate curvature effects to analyze the combined influence of SOC and curvature on the band structure of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The extended model then reproduces the chirality-dependent asymmetric electron-hole splitting for semiconducting CNTs and in the band structure for metallic CNTs shows an opening of the band gap and a change of the Fermi wave vector with spin. For chiral semiconducting CNTs with large chiral angle we show that the spin-splitting configuration of bands near the Fermi energy depends on the value of .

Thermodynamic and topological phase diagrams of correlated topological insulators

A definition of topological phases of density matrices is presented. The topological invariants in case of both noninteracting and interacting systems are extended to nonzero temperatures. The influence of electron interactions on topological insulators at finite temperatures is investigated. A correlated topological insulator is described by the Kane-Mele model, which is extended by the interaction term of the Falicov-Kimball type. Within the Hartree-Fock and the Hubbard I approximations, thermodynamic and topological phase diagrams are determined where the long-range order is included. The results show that correlation effects lead to a strong suppression of the existence of the nontrivial topological phase. In the homogeneous phase, we find a purely correlation driven phase transition into the topologically trivial Mott insulator.

Spin-polarized Wannier functions for the two-dimensional topological insulators

We propose that the topological properties of the two-dimensional topological insulators can be classified by the evolution of the centers of the spin-polarized Wannier functions. Numerical results are obtained based upon a modified Kane-Mele model with next-nearest-neighbor hopping terms and a uniform exchange field. The centers of the spin-polarized Wannier functions are shown to display different spectral flow patterns in different quantum phases, characterizing the topological structures of the bulk energy bands.

Time-Reversal-Violating Photonic Topological Insulators with Helical Edge States

We theoretically demonstrate the realization of photonic topological insulators in photonic crystals made of circular cylinders with the Tellegen-type magnetoelectric coupling as a photospin–orbit interaction. Although the magnetoelectric coupling breaks the conventional (bosonic) time-reversal symmetry for photons, the electromagnetic duality between permittivity and permeability gives rise to a fermionic time-reversal symmetry. This symmetry along with the space-inversion symmetry enables us to imitate the Kane–Mele model of two-dimensional topological insulators in a photonics platform. Even if the space-inversion symmetry is broken, a photonic topological insulator can emerge owing to the photospin–orbit interaction. We present bulk and edge properties of the photonic topological insulators and discuss their possible realization.

Collective modes in a Dirac insulator with short range interactions

We study a Haldane model with nearest neighbor interactions. We find one-dimensional like collective modes arising due to the interplay of pseudo-spin and valley degrees of freedom. In the large band gap or moderate interaction limit, these excitations are low energy modes lying in the band gap. The dispersion relations are qualitatively different in trivial insulator phase and Chern insulator phase, thus can be used to identify the topology of the Haldane model with the bulk property. We also discuss how to detect these modes in cold atom systems. An abelian gauge theory will emerge when a physical current-current interaction is introduced to the Haldane model or the Kane-Mele model.

Rashba coupling and magnetic order in correlated helical liquids

We study strongly correlated helical liquids with and without Rashba coupling using quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the Kane-Mele model with a Hubbard interaction at the edge. Independent of the Rashba coupling, we find that interactions enhance spin correlations and suppress the spectral weight at the Fermi level. For sufficiently strong interactions, a gap can be observed in the single-particle spectral function. However, based on a finite-size scaling analysis and theoretical arguments, we argue that this gap is closed by order parameter fluctuations in the Luttinger liquid phase even at zero temperature, and filled in by thermally induced kinks in the order parameter in the Mott phase at finite temperatures. While the bosonization suggests an umklapp-driven Mott transition only in the presence of Rashba coupling and hence a significant impact of the latter, our numerical results are almost unaffected by Rashba coupling even at low temperatures.