Abstract
We show that strained or deformed honeycomb lattices are promising platforms to realize fractional topological quantum states in the absence of any magnetic field. The strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields are oppositely oriented in the two valleys and can be as large as 60–300 T as reported in recent experiments. For strained graphene at neutrality, a spin- or a valley-polarized state is predicted depending on the value of the on-site Coulomb interaction. At fractional filling, the unscreened Coulomb interaction leads to a valley-polarized fractional quantum Hall liquid which spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry. Motivated by artificial graphene systems, we consider tuning the short-range part of interactions and demonstrate that exotic valley symmetric states, including a valley fractional topological insulator and a spin triplet superconductor, can be stabilized by such interaction engineering.
- Received 28 January 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.266801
© 2012 American Physical Society