Photo-Induced Topological Phase Transition and a Single Dirac-Cone State in Silicene

TL;DR

This paper explores how circularly polarized light can induce topological phase transitions in silicene, creating novel quantum Hall states, spin-polarized metals, and a unique single Dirac-cone state with asymmetric valleys.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of photo-induced topological phases in silicene, including a new single Dirac-cone state with asymmetric valley dispersions, expanding the understanding of light-controlled topological matter.

Findings

Realization of a photo-induced quantum Hall insulator without magnetic field

Discovery of a spin-polarized metal with topological flat bands

Identification of a single Dirac-cone state with asymmetric valleys

Abstract

Silicene (a monolayer of silicon atoms) is a quantum spin Hall insulator (QSHI), which undergoes a topological phase transition to a band insulator under external electric field $E_{z}$. We investigate a photo-induced topological phase transition by irradiating circular polarized light at fixed $E_{z}$. The band structure and also the topological property are modified by photon dressing. By increasing the intensity of light at $E_{z}=0 $, a photo-induced quantum Hall insulator (P-QHI) is realized, where the quantum Hall effect occurs without magnetic field. Its edge modes are anisotropic chiral, in which the velocities of up and down spins are different. There appears a spin polarized metal characterized by topological flat bands at the critical point between the QSHI and P-QHI. At $E_{z}>E_{\text{cr}}$ with a certain critical field $E_{\text{cr}}$, a photo-induced spin-polarized quantum Hall insulator emerge. This is a new state of matter, possessing one Chern number and one half spin-Chern numbers. The edge mode supports a perfectly spin-polarized current, which are different from the chiral or helical edge modes. We newly discovered a single Dirac-cone state along a phase boundary. A distinctive hallmark of the state is that one of the two Dirac valleys is closed with a linear dispersion and the other open with a parabolic dispersion.