Topological phase transition through tunable nearest-neighbor interactions in a one-dimensional lattice

Abstract

We investigate the phase diagram of a one-dimensional model of hardcore bosons or spinless fermions with tunable nearest-neighbor interactions. By introducing alternating repulsive and attractive interactions on consecutive bonds, we show that the system undergoes a transition from a bond-ordered (BO) phase to a charge-density wave-II (CDW-II) phase as the attractive interaction strength increases at a fixed repulsive interaction. For a specific interaction pattern, the BO phase exhibits topological properties, which vanish when the pattern is altered, leading to a transition from a topological BO phase to a trivial BO phase through a gap-closing point where both interactions vanish. We identify these phases using a combination of order parameters, topological invariants, edge-state analysis and Thouless charge pumping. By extending our analysis beyond half-filling, we explore the phase diagram across all densities and identify the superfluid (SF) and the pair-superfluid (PSF) phases, characterized by single-particle and bound-pair excitations at incommensurate densities. The proposed model is experimentally realizable in platforms such as Rydberg excited or ultracold atoms in optical lattices, offering a versatile framework to study such interplay between topology and interactions in low-dimensional systems.