Physics – Condensed Matter – Materials Science
Scientific paper
2010-06-28
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 017401 (2010)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Materials Science
To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.017401
Manipulating the topological properties of insulators, encoded in invariants such as the Chern number and its generalizations, is now a major issue for realizing novel charge/spin responses in electron systems. We propose that a simple optical means --subjecting to a driving laser field with circular polarization, can be fruitfully incorporated to this end. Taking as a prototypical example the two-band insulator first considered by Haldane, we show how the electron system can be tuned through phases associated with different Chern numbers as the laser intensity is adiabatically swept; i.e., a photo-induced analog of the quantum Hall plateau transition. The implications of our findings includes the possibility of laser-tuning a conventional insulator into a quantum spin Hall system.
Inoue Jun'ichi
Tanaka Akihiro
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