Non-Equilibrium Dynamics of Chern Insulators

ORAL

Abstract

We investigate the non-equilibrium properties of Chern insulators following a quantum quench between topological and non-topological phases. We show that this yields an excited state for which the Chern number is preserved under unitary evolution [1]. However, this does not imply the preservation of other physical observables, such as the Hall response [2]. We discuss the time scale at which the Chern number preservation ultimately breaks down.

[1] Caio, Cooper, Bhaseen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 236403 (2015)
[2] Caio, Cooper, Bhaseen, Phys. Rev. B 94, 155104 (2016)

*This work was supported by EPSRC Grants EP/J017639/1, EP/K030094/1, by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO/OCW) and an ERC Synergy Grant. MJB thanks the EPSRC Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Non-Equilibrium Systems (CANES) funded under grant EP/L015854/1. MJB and MDC tha

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Presenters

  • Marcello Davide Caio

    • Lorentz Institute

Authors

  • Marcello Davide Caio

    • Lorentz Institute

  • Nigel Cooper

    • T.C.M. Group, Cavendish Laboratory
    • Cavendish Laboratory, Univ of Cambridge
    • T.C.M Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University

  • Joe Bhaseen

    • Physics Department, King's College London