Topologically distinct atomic insulators

Abstract

Topological classification of quantum solids often (if not always) groups all trivial atomic or normal insulators (NIs) into the same featureless family. As we argue here, this is not necessarily the case always. In particular, when the global phase diagram of electronic crystals harbors topological insulators with the band inversion at various time-reversal invariant momenta ${\mathbf{K}}_{\mathrm{inv}}^{\mathrm{TI}}$ in the Brillouin zone, their proximal NIs display noninverted band-gap minima at ${\mathbf{K}}_{\min }^{\mathrm{NI}}={\mathbf{K}}_{\mathrm{inv}}^{\mathrm{TI}}$. In such systems, once topological superconductors nucleate from NIs, the inversion of the Bogoliubov de Gennes bands takes place at ${\mathbf{K}}_{\mathrm{inv}}^{\mathrm{BdG}}={\mathbf{K}}_{\min }^{\mathrm{NI}}$, inheriting from the parent state. We showcase this (possibly general) proposal for two-dimensional time-reversal symmetry-breaking insulators. Then distinct quantized thermal Hall conductivity and responses to dislocation lattice defects inside the paired states (tied with ${\mathbf{K}}_{\mathrm{inv}}^{\mathrm{BdG}}$ or ${\mathbf{K}}_{\min }^{\mathrm{NI}}$), in turn unambiguously identify different parent atomic NIs.

Published version in PRB as a Letter: 7 pages, 4 figures (Supplemental Material as Ancillary file)

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Model non-Hermitian topological operators without skin effect: A general principle of construction
• Quantized thermal and spin transports of dirty planar topological superconductors
• Quantized electrical, thermal, and spin transports of non-Hermitian clean and dirty two-dimensional topological insulators and superconductors
• Dynamic melting and condensation of topological dislocation modes
• Hybrid symmetry class topological insulators
• Superconductivity in doped planar Dirac insulators: A renormalization group study
• Dispersive nodal fermions along grain boundaries in Floquet topological crystals
• Nodal higher-order topological superconductivity from C6-symmetric Dirac semimetals
• Projected branes as platforms for crystalline, superconducting, and higher-order topological phases