Signature of topological phases in Zitterbewegung

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the Zitterbewegung effect in a honeycomb lattice sheet reveals different topological phases, enabling phase identification through jittering motion analysis, with implications for materials like silicene and germanene.

Contribution

It demonstrates the correlation between Zitterbewegung characteristics and topological phases, providing a new method to identify phases in 2D materials.

Findings

Zitterbewegung phase and magnitude vary with topological phase

Topological phase diagram can be reconstructed from Zitterbewegung features

Applicable to materials like silicene, germanene, stanene

Abstract

We have studied the {\em Zitterbewegung} effect on an infinite two dimensional sheet with honeycomb lattice. By tuning the perpendicular electric field and the magnetization of the sheet, it can enter different topological phases. We have shown that the phase and magnitude of Zitterbewegung effect, i.e. the jittering motion of relativistic particles, correlates with the various topological phases. The topological phase diagram can be reconstructed by analyzing these features. Our findings are applicable to materials like silicene, germanene, stanene etc.