Tailoring Quadrupole Topological Insulators with Periodic Driving and Disorder

Abstract

The quadrupole topological insulator (QTI) has attracted intense studies as a prototype of symmetry-protected higher-order topological phases of matter with a quantized quadrupole moment. The realization of QTIs has been reported in various static settings with periodic structures. Here, we theoretically investigate topological phase transitions and establish the QTI phase in a periodically driven system with disorder. In the clean limit, the Floquet QTI phase emerges from a topologically trivial band structure driven by elliptically polarized irradiation. More strikingly, starting from a pure and static system with trivial topology, we unveil an intriguing QTI phase which necessitates the simultaneous presence of disorder and periodic driving. Furthermore, we reveal that particle-hole symmetry is sufficient to protect the QTI. Our work not only establishes a new strategy to design QTIs but also enriches the symmetry-protected mechanism of higher-order topology.

6 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (15)

• Electric Multipole Moments, Topological Multipole Moment Pumping, and Chiral Hinge States in Crystalline Insulators
• $(d-2)$-dimensional edge states of rotation symmetry protected topological states
• Reflection symmetric second-order topological insulators and superconductors
• Periodically-driven quantum systems: Effective Hamiltonians and engineered gauge fields
• Topological Anderson Insulator
• Photonic Topological Anderson Insulators
• Light-induced emergent phenomena in 2D materials and topological materials
• Acoustic realization of quadrupole topological insulators
• Disorder-induced Floquet Topological Insulators
• Topological Anderson Insulator in Three Dimensions
• Hierarchy of higher-order topological superconductors in three dimensions
• Floquet Second Order Topological Superconductor based on Unconventional Pairing
• Symmetry Analysis of Anomalous Floquet Topological Phases
• Floquet higher-order Weyl and nexus semimetals
• Engineering exotic second-order topological semimetals by periodic driving

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Non-Hermitian higher-order topological superconductors in two-dimension: statics and dynamics
• Engineering Floquet topological phases using elliptically polarized light
• Topological States in Two-Dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Models
• Engineering topologically protected zero-dimensional interface end states in antiferromagnetic heterojunction graphene nanoflakes
• Floquet second-order topological Anderson insulator hosting corner localized modes
• Generating many Majorana corner modes and multiple phase transitions in Floquet second-order topological superconductors
• Time evolution of Majorana corner modes in Floquet second-order topological superconductor
• Gapless higher-order topology and corner states in Floquet systems
• Higher-order topology in twisted multilayer systems: a review