Quantum Hall effect and the topological number in graphene

TL;DR

This paper explains the unusual integer quantum Hall effect observed in graphene by analyzing its energy structure and topological properties, revealing how the Hall conductivity quantization relates to the lattice and magnetic field conditions.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical framework connecting the topological number to the quantum Hall effect in graphene, including effects of anisotropy and strong magnetic fields.

Findings

Quantum Hall conductivity in graphene is quantized as odd integers times two.

Anisotropic honeycomb lattices can exhibit any integer quantization of Hall conductivity.

Comparison with square lattice under strong magnetic fields highlights lattice effects.

Abstract

Recently unusual integer quantum Hall effect was observed in graphene in which the Hall conductivity is quantized as $\sigma_{xy}=(\pm 2, \pm 6, \pm 10, >...) \times \frac{e^2}{h}$, where $e$ is the electron charge and $h$ is the Planck constant. %\cite{Novoselov2005,Zheng2005}, %although it can be explained in the argument of massless Dirac fermions, To explain this we consider the energy structure as a function of magnetic field (the Hofstadter butterfly diagram) on the honeycomb lattice and the Streda formula for Hall conductivity. The quantized Hall conductivity is obtained to be odd integer, $\pm1, \pm3, \pm5, ...$ times two (spin degrees of freedom) when a uniform magnetic field is as high as 30T for example. When the system is anisotropic and described by the generalized honeycomb lattice, Hall conductivity can be quantized to be any integer number. We also compare the results with those for the square lattice under extremely strong magnetic field.