Detecting band inversions by measuring the environment: fingerprints of electronic band topology in bulk phonon linewidths

Abstract

The interplay between topological phases of matter and dissipative baths constitutes an emergent research topic with links to condensed matter, photonic crystals, cold atomic gases and quantum information. While recent studies suggest that dissipative baths can induce topological phases in intrinsically trivial quantum materials, the backaction of topological invariants on dissipative baths is overlooked. By exploring this backaction for a centrosymmetric Dirac insulator coupled to phonons, we show that the linewidths of bulk optical phonons can contain generic features that reveal the topology of the electronic structure. This result is the first known example where topological phases of an open quantum system may be detected by measuring the bulk properties of the surrounding environment.

4 pages+appendices, 4 Figures

References in corpus (5)

• Electron-phonon Coupling on the Surface of the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3: Determined from Surface Phonon Dispersion Measurements
• Sharp Raman Anomalies and Broken Adiabaticity at a Pressure Induced Transition from Band to Topological Insulator in Sb2Se3
• Phonon-induced topological transitions and crossovers in Dirac materials
• Phonon-induced topological insulation
• Bulk Signatures of Pressure-Induced Band Inversion and Topological Phase Transitions in Pb${}_{1-x}$Sn${}_x$Se

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• Pressure induced emission enhancement and bandgap narrowing: experimental investigations and first principles theoretical simulations on a model halide perovskite
• Phonon magnetochiral effect of band-geometric origin in Weyl semimetals
• Topological phase transition between distinctWeyl semimetal states in MoTe2
• Pressure-induced phase transition in Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ at 3 GPa: electronic topological transition or not?
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• Tight-binding theory of NMR shifts in topological insulators Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3
• Effect of topology on quasi-particle interactions in the Weyl semimetal WP${}_2$
• Fingerprints of Berry phases in the bulk exciton spectrum of a topological insulator
• Impact of novel electron-phonon coupling mechanisms on valley physics in two-dimensional materials
• Fano q-reversal in topological insulator Bi2Se3
• Non-trivial phonon dynamics and significant electron-phonon coupling of the high frequency modes in a Dirac semimetal
• Inherited Berry curvature of phonons in Dirac materials with time-reversal symmetry