Multi-orbital model reveals second-order topological insulator in 1H-transition metal dichalcogenide

TL;DR

This paper introduces a multi-orbital model demonstrating that certain transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers are natural second-order topological insulators with protected corner states, expanding the understanding of topological phases in real materials.

Contribution

The study proposes a symmetry-faithful multi-orbital model that identifies natural TMD monolayers as 2D SOTIs with large bulk gaps and protected corner states, bridging theoretical models and real materials.

Findings

Identification of TMD monolayers as 2D SOTIs with large bulk gaps

Presence of topologically protected corner states with fractional charge

Corner states remain stable in heterostructures with trivial materials

Abstract

Recently, a new class of second-order topological insulators (SOTIs) characterized by an electronic dipole has been theoretically introduced and proposed to host topological corner states. As a novel topological state, it has been attracting great interest and experimentally realized in artificial systems of various fields of physics based on multi-sublattice models, e.g., breathing kagome lattice. In order to realize such kind of SOTI in natural materials, we proposed a symmetry-faithful multi-orbital model. Then, we reveal several familiar transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers as a material family of two-dimensional SOTI with large bulk gaps. The topologically protected corner state with fractional charge is pinned at Fermi level due to the charge neutrality and filling anomaly. Additionally, we propose that the zero-energy corner state preserves in the heterostructure composed of a topological nontrivial flake embedded in a trivial material. The novel second-order corner states in familiar TMD materials hold promise for revealing unexpected quantum properties and applications.