Fractional Chern Insulators in Topological Flat Bands with Higher Chern Number

Zhao Liu, Emil J. Bergholtz, Heng Fan, and Andreas M. Läuchli
Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 186805 – Published 2 November 2012
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Abstract

Lattice models forming bands with higher Chern number offer an intriguing possibility for new phases of matter with no analogue in continuum Landau levels. Here, we establish the existence of a number of new bulk insulating states at fractional filling in flat bands with a Chern number C=N>1, forming in a recently proposed pyrochlore model with strong spin-orbit coupling. In particular, we find compelling evidence for a series of stable states at ν=1/(2N+1) for fermions as well as bosonic states at ν=1/(N+1). By examining the topological ground state degeneracies and the excitation structure as well as the entanglement spectrum, we conclude that these states are Abelian. We also explicitly demonstrate that these states are nevertheless qualitatively different from conventional quantum Hall (multilayer) states due to the novel properties of the underlying band structure.

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  • Received 20 June 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.186805

© 2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Zhao Liu1,2, Emil J. Bergholtz3,*, Heng Fan1, and Andreas M. Läuchli4

  • 1Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 2Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100084, China
  • 3Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Institut für Theoretische Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin, Germany
  • 4Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

  • *To whom correspondence should be addressed. ejb@physik.fu-berlin.de

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Issue

Vol. 109, Iss. 18 — 2 November 2012

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