Fractional topological phases and broken time reversal symmetry in strained graphene

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 strained induced pseudo magnetic fields are oppositely oriented in the two valleys [1-3] and can be as large as 60-300 Tesla as repo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2012-05
Main Authors: Ghaemi, P, Cayssol, J, Sheng, D N, Vishwanath, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Deformation
Graphene
Honeycomb construction
Lattices
Magnetic fields
Quantum theory
Symmetry
Topological insulators
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Summary: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 strained induced pseudo magnetic fields are oppositely oriented in the two valleys [1-3] and can be as large as 60-300 Tesla as reported in recent experiments [4,5]. For strained graphene at neutrality, a spin or a valley polarized state is predicted depending on the value of the onsite 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 [5-8], 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.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1111.3640