Magnetic effects on Chern Kondo insulator

TL;DR

This paper explores the interplay of magnetic effects and topological phases in a Chern Kondo insulator realized in optical lattices, revealing how magnetic orders influence the topological properties and proposing experimental detection methods.

Contribution

It systematically investigates magnetic effects on Chern Kondo phases using slave-boson theory, uncovering new magnetic and topological phases and their experimental signatures.

Findings

Magnetic orders enhance Kondo hybridization and bulk gap.

Antiferromagnetic order increases the topological phase stability.

Distinct magnetic phases affect the system's topology and can be detected via Hall conductance and double occupancy.

Abstract

We examine the Chern Kondo insulator proposed in a square optical lattice with staggered flux induced by $s$-$p$ orbital hybridization by revisiting its realization and taking into account the magnetic effects for the Kondo phases. The Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida interaction is analyzed at the weak $s$-$p$ hybridization regime, with the anisotropic magnetic effects being discussed. Furthermore, the paramagnetic and magnetic phases coexisting with Kondo couplings are systematically investigated through the slave-boson theory, for which the rich phases are obtained, including the antiferromagnetic, collinear antiferromagnetic Kondo insulator, and Kondo metal phases. The magnetic orders are shown to enhance the effective Kondo hybridization compared with the case without taking into account magnetic effects, and exhibit different influences on the bulk topology. In particular, the antiferromagnetic order always enhances the topological phase by increasing bulk gap of the Chern Kondo phases. The results show the rich topological and magnetic effects obtained in the present Chern Kondo lattice model. We also investigate how to identify the topology and strong correlation effects through measuring the Hall conductance and double occupancy, which are achievable in ultracold atom experiments.