Quantum spin compass models in 2D electronic topological metasurfaces

TL;DR

This paper explores a 2D topological metasurface with antidots that emulate spin models, revealing Mott insulator phases and enabling quantum simulations of correlated electrons.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 2D topological metasurface platform that models quantum spin compass interactions and exhibits Mott insulator behavior.

Findings

On-site Coulomb repulsion induces Mott insulator phase.

System supports a variety of low-energy spin Hamiltonians.

Platform enables quantum simulation of strongly correlated electrons.

Abstract

We consider a metasurface consisting of a square lattice of cylindrical antidots in a two-dimensional topological insulator (2DTI). Each antidot supports a degenerate Kramer's pair of eigenstates formed by the helical topological edge states. We show that the on-site Coulomb repulsion leads to the onset of the Mott insulator phase in the system in a certain range of experimentally relevant parameters. Intrinsic strong spin-orbit coupling characteristic for the 2DTI supports a rich class of the emerging low-energy spin Hamiltonians which can be emulated in the considered system, which makes it an appealing solid state platform for quantum simulations of strongly correlated electron systems.