Unconventional quantum Hall effect in Floquet topological insulators

Abstract

We study an unconventional quantum Hall effect for the surface states of ultrathin Floquet topological insulators in a perpendicular magnetic field. The resulting band structure is modified by photon dressing and the topological property is governed by the low-energy dynamics of a single surface. An exchange of symmetric and antisymmetric surface states occurs by reversing the light's polarization. We find a novel quantum Hall state in which the zeroth Landau level undergoes a phase transition from a trivial insulator state, with Hall conductivity ${\sigma }_{yx}=0$ at zero Fermi energy, to a Hall insulator state with ${\sigma }_{yx}=e^2/2h$. These findings open new possibilities for experimentally realizing nontrivial quantum states and unusual quantum Hall plateaux at $(\pm 1/2,\pm 3/2,\pm 5/2,...)e^2/h$.

Accepted in J. Phys. Condensed Matter july 2016

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