arXiv subjects

Zheng-Rong Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Zheng-Rong Liu.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

High second Chern number induced by long-range hopping in a four-dimensional Dirac model

Four-dimensional (4D) topological systems provide a promising platform for exploring topological phenomena beyond three dimensions. So far, extensive recent studies on 4D topological insulators have focused on the 4D Dirac model, while its second Chern number is restricted to a limited set of values. In this work, we demonstrate that introducing long-range hopping into the 4D Dirac model induces topological phases with high second Chern numbers. Furthermore, we show that the long-range hopping can transform a trivial insulator into a topological insulator with a nonzero second Chern number. Our work establishes long-range hopping as a powerful route for engineering 4D topological states and reveals new possibilities for realizing unconventional topological phases beyond minimal models.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Numerical calculation of the $k$-space second Chern number in four dimensions

We propose an efficient numerical method to compute the $k$-space second Chern number in four-dimensional (4D) topological systems. Our approach employs an adaptive mesh refinement scheme to evaluate the Brillouin-zone integral, which automatically increases the grid density in regions where the Berry curvature is sharply peaked. We compare our method with the 4D lattice-gauge extension of the Fukui-Hatsugai-Suzuki method and a direct uniform grid integration scheme. Compared with these approaches, our method (i) achieves the same accuracy with substantially fewer diagonalizations, and thus runs faster; (ii) requires minimal memory to execute, enabling calculations for larger systems; and (iii) remains accurate even near topological phase transitions where conventional methods often face challenges. These results demonstrate that the adaptive subdivision strategy is a practical and powerful tool for calculating the $k$-space second Chern number.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Tunable cornerlike states in topological type-II hyperbolic lattices

Type-II hyperbolic lattices constitute a new class of hyperbolic structures that are projected onto the Poincar\'{e} ring and possess both an inner and an outer boundary. In this work, we reveal the higher-order topological phases in type-II hyperbolic lattices, characterized by the generalized quadrupole moment. Unlike the type-I hyperbolic lattices where zero-energy cornerlike states exist on a single boundary, the higher-order topological phases in type-II hyperbolic lattices possess zero-energy cornerlike states localized on both the inner and outer boundaries. These findings are verified within both the modified Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model and the Benalcazar-Bernevig-Hughes model. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the higher-order topological phase remains robust against weak disorder in type-II hyperbolic lattices. Our work provides a route for realizing and controlling higher-order topological states in type-II hyperbolic lattices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Five-dimensional Floquet topological semimetals with emergent Yang monopoles and linked Weyl surfaces

Recently, Floquet topological matter has attracted significant attention for its potential to reveal novel topological phases inaccessible in static systems. In this paper, we investigate the effect of a time-periodic driving on the five-dimensional (5D) normal insulators. We show that the time-periodic driving can induce a topological phase transition from a \textbf{TP} (time reversal combined with space inversion) symmetry-preserving normal insulator to a 5D Floquet topological semimetal with emergent Yang monopoles characterized by the second Chern number. Additionally, we show that this time-periodic driving can also lead to a topological phase transition from a \textbf{TP} symmetry-breaking normal insulator to a 5D Floquet topological semimetal with a Hopf link formed by Weyl surfaces. Besides, further increasing the strength of the time-periodic driving, the two 5D Floquet topological semimetal phases are transformed into the 5D Floquet Chern insulators. Our paper is helpful for future studies in higher dimensional Floquet systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Structural disorder-induced topological phase transitions in quasicrystals

Recently, the structural disorder-induced topological phase transitions in periodic systems have attracted much attention. However, in aperiodic systems such as quasicrystalline systems, the interplay between structural disorder and band topology is still unclear. In this work, we investigate the effects of structural disorder on a quantum spin Hall insulator phase and a higher-order topological phase in a two-dimensional Amman-Beenker tiling quasicrystalline lattice, respectively. We demonstrate that the structural disorder can induce a topological phase transition from a quasicrystalline normal insulator phase to an amorphous quantum spin Hall insulator phase, which is confirmed by bulk gap closing and reopening, robust edge states, quantized spin Bott index and conductance. Furthermore, the structural disorder-induced higher-order topological phase transition from a quasicrystalline normal insulator phase to an amorphous higher-order topological phase characterized by quantized quadrupole moment and topological corner states is also found. More strikingly, the disorder-induced higher-order topological insulator with eight corner states represents a distinctive topological state that eludes realization in conventional crystalline systems. Our work extends the study of the interplay between disorder effects and topologies to quasicrystalline and amorphous systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Periodically driven four-dimensional topological insulator with tunable second Chern number

In recent years, Floquet engineering has attracted considerable attention as a promising approach for tuning topological phase transitions. In this work, we investigate the effects of high-frequency time-periodic driving in a four-dimensional (4D) topological insulator, focusing on topological phase transitions at the off-resonant quasienergy gap. The 4D topological insulator hosts gapless three-dimensional boundary states characterized by the second Chern number $C_{2}$. We demonstrate that the second Chern number of 4D topological insulators can be modulated by tuning the amplitude of time-periodic driving. This includes transitions from a topological phase with $C_{2}=\pm3$ to another topological phase with $C_{2}=\pm1$, or to a topological phase with an even second Chern number $C_{2}=\pm2$ which is absent in the 4D static system. Finally, the approximation theory in the high-frequency limit further confirms the numerical conclusions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Four-dimensional Floquet topological insulator with an emergent second Chern number

Floquet topological insulators have been widely investigated in lower-dimensional systems. However, Floquet topological insulators induced by time-periodic driving in higher-dimensional systems remain unexplored. In this work, we study the effects of time-periodic driving in a four-dimensional (4D) normal insulator, focusing on topological phase transitions at the resonant quasienergy gap. We consider two types of time-periodic driving, including a time-periodic onsite potential and a time-periodic vector potential. We reveal that both types of time-periodic driving can transform the 4D normal insulator into a 4D Floquet topological insulator characterized by an emergent second Chern number. Moreover, it is found that the topological phase of the 4D system can be modulated by tuning the strength and frequency of the time-periodic driving. Our work will be helpful for the future investigation of Floquet topological insulators in higher dimensions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Higher-order topological insulators in hyperbolic lattices

To explore the non-Euclidean generalization of higher-order topological phenomena, we construct a higher-order topological insulator model in hyperbolic lattices by breaking the time-reversal symmetry (TRS) of quantum spin Hall insulators. We investigate three kinds of hyperbolic lattices, i.e., hyperbolic $\{4,5\}$, $\{8,3\}$ and $\{12,3\}$ lattices, respectively. The non-Euclidean higher-order topological behavior is characterized by zero-energy effective corner states appearing in hyperbolic lattices. By adjusting the variation period of the TRS breaking term, we obtain 4, 8 and 12 zero-energy effective corner states in these three different hyperbolic lattices, respectively. It is found that the number of zero-energy effective corner states of a hyperbolic lattice depends on the variation period of the TRS breaking term. The real-space quadrupole moment is employed to characterize the higher-order topology of the hyperbolic lattice with four zero-energy effective corner states. Via symmetry analysis, it is confirmed that the hyperbolic zero-energy effective corner states are protected by the particle-hole symmetry $P$, the effective chiral symmetry $Sm_{z}$, and combined symmetries $C_{p}T$ and $C_{p}m_{z}$. The hyperbolic zero-energy effective corner states remain stable unless these four symmetries are broken simultaneously. The topological nature of hyperbolic zero-energy effective corner states is further confirmed by checking the robustness of the zero-energy modes in the hyperbolic lattices in the presence of disorder. Our paper provides a route for research on hyperbolic higher-order topological insulators in non-Euclidean geometric systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Density-driven higher-order topological phase transitions in amorphous solids

Amorphous topological states, which are independent of the specific spatial distribution of microscopic constructions, have gained much attention. Recently, higher-order topological insulators, which are a new class of topological phases of matter, have been proposed in amorphous systems. Here, we propose a density-driven higher-order topological phase transition in a two-dimensional amorphous system. We demonstrate that the amorphous system hosts a topological trivial phase at low density. With an increase in the density of lattice sites, the topological trivial phase converts to a higher-order topological phase characterized by a quantized quadrupole moment and the existence of topological corner states. Furthermore, we confirm that the density-driven higher-order topological phase transition is size dependent. In addition, our results should be general and equally applicable to three-dimensional amorphous systems. Our findings may greatly enrich the study of higher-order topological states in amorphous systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Chern insulator in a hyperbolic lattice

Motivated by the recent experimental realizations of hyperbolic lattices in circuit quantum electrodynamics and the research interest in the non-Euclidean generalization of topological phenomena, we investigate the Chern insulator phases in a hyperbolic $\{8,3\}$ lattice, which is made from regular octagons ($8$-gons) such that the coordination number of each lattice site is $3$. Based on the conformal projection of the hyperbolic lattice into the Euclidean plane, i.e., the Poincar\'{e} disk model, by calculating the Bott index ($B$) and the two-terminal conductance, we reveal two Chern insulator phases (with $B=1$ and $B=-1$, respectively) accompanied with quantized conductance plateaus in the hyperbolic $\{8,3\}$ lattice. The numerical calculation results of the nonequilibrium local current distribution further confirm that the quantized conductance plateau originates from the chiral edge states and the two Chern insulator phases exhibit opposite chirality. Moreover, we explore the effect of disorder on topological phases in the hyperbolic lattice. It is demonstrated that the chiral edge states of Chern insulators are robust against weak disorder in the hyperbolic lattice. More fascinating is the discovery of disorder-induced topological non-trivial phases exhibiting chiral edge states in the hyperbolic lattice, realizing a non-Euclidean analog of topological Anderson insulator. Our work provides a route for the exploration of topological non-trivial states in hyperbolic geometric systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Magnon corner states in twisted bilayer honeycomb magnets

Search for higher-order topological insulators, characterized by topologically protected gapless boundary states of codimension higher than one, in bosonic systems has attracted growing interest. Here, we establish twisted bilayer honeycomb magnets as a new platform for hosting second-order topological magnon insulators (SOTMIs) without fine-tuning. We employ a simple, minimal Heisenberg spin model to describe misaligned bilayer sheets of honeycomb ferromagnetic magnets with a large commensurate twist angle. We found that the higher-order topology in this bilayer system shows a significant dependence on the interlayer exchange coupling. The SOTMI, featuring topologically protected magnon corner states, appears for ferromagnetic interlayer couplings, while the twisted bilayer exhibits a nodal phase in the case of antiferromagnetic interlayer coupling.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Higher-order topological Anderson insulators in quasicrystals

The disorder effects on higher-order topological phases in periodic systems have attracted much attention. However, in aperiodic systems, such as quasicrystalline systems, the interplay between disorder and higher-order topology is still unclear. In this paper, we investigate the effects of disorder on two types of second-order topological insulators, including a quasicrystalline quadrupole insulator and a modified quantum spin Hall insulator, in a two-dimensional Amman-Beenker tiling quasicrystalline lattice. We demonstrate that the higher-order topological insulators are robust against weak disorder in both models. More striking, the disorder-induced higher-order topological insulators called higher-order topological Anderson insulators are found at a certain region of disorder strength in both models. Our paper extends the study of the interplay between disorder and higher-order topology to quasicrystalline systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Disorder-induced chiral and helical Majorana edge modes in a two-dimensional Ammann-Beenker quasicrystal

Recent research on disorder effects in topological phases in quasicrystalline systems has received much attention. In this work, by numerically computing the (spin) Bott index and the thermal conductance, we reveal the effects of disorder on a class D chiral topological superconductor and a class DIII time-reversal-invariant topological superconductor in a two-dimensional Ammann-Beenker tiling quasicrystalline lattice. We demonstrate that both the topologically protected chiral and helical Majorana edge modes are robust against weak disorder in the quasicrystalline lattice. More fascinating is the discovery of disorder-induced topologically nontrivial phases exhibiting chiral and helical Majorana edge modes in class D and DIII topological superconductor systems, respectively. Our findings open the door for the research on disorder-induced Majorana edge modes in quasicrystalline systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Topological excitonic corner states and nodal phase in bilayer quantum spin Hall insulators

Interaction induced topological states remain one of the fascinating phases in condensed matter physics. The exciton condensate has recently sparked renewed interest due to the discovery of new candidate materials and its driving force to realize exotic topological states. In this work, we explore the exciton orders induced high-order topology in the bilayer quantum spin Hall insulators and find that the topological excitonic corner states can be realized by tuning the gate and magnetic field. When an in-plane Zeeman field is applied to the system, two or four excitonic boundary-obstructed corner states emerge in the bilayer system for distinct possible $s$-wave excitonic pairings. Besides, we also find a two-dimensional excitonic Weyl nodal phase, which supports flat band edge states connecting the bulk Weyl nodes.

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