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Topological Insulators in Amorphous Systems

Adhip Agarwala and Vijay B. Shenoy
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 236402 – Published 8 June 2017
Physics logo See Synopsis: Glass Materials Could Be Topological Insulators
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Abstract

Much of the current understanding of topological insulators, which informs the experimental search for topological materials and systems, is based on crystalline band theory, where local electronic degrees of freedom at different crystal sites hybridize with each other in ways that produce nontrivial topology. Here we provide a novel theoretical demonstration of realizing topological phases in amorphous systems, as exemplified by a set of sites randomly located in space. We show this by constructing hopping models on such random lattices whose gapped ground states are shown to possess nontrivial topological nature (characterized by Bott indices) that manifests as quantized conductances in systems with a boundary. Our study adds a new dimension, beyond crystalline solids, to the search for topological systems by pointing to the promising possibilities in amorphous solids and other engineered random systems.

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  • Received 31 March 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.236402

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Synopsis

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Glass Materials Could Be Topological Insulators

Published 8 June 2017

Topological insulators, so far only identified in materials with an ordered crystal structure, could potentially be found in amorphous materials.

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Authors & Affiliations

Adhip Agarwala and Vijay B. Shenoy*

  • Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India

  • *shenoy@physics.iisc.ernet.in

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Issue

Vol. 118, Iss. 23 — 9 June 2017

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