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arXiv:1712.06007 · New Journal of Physics

Wigner crystallization in topological flat bands

Błażej Jaworowski, Alev Devrim Güçlü, Piotr Kaczmarkiewicz, Michał Kupczyński, Paweł Potasz, Arkadiusz Wójs

Published May 21, 2018• 33 citations
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Abstract

We study the Wigner crystallization on partially filled topological flat bands of kagome, honeycomb and checkerboard lattices. We identify the Wigner crystals (WCs) by analyzing the Cartesian and angular Fourier transform of the pair correlation density of the many-body ground state obtained using exact diagonalization. The crystallization strength, measured by the magnitude of the Fourier peaks, increases with decreasing particle density. The Wigner crystallization observed by us is a robust and general phenomenon, existing in all three lattice models for a broad range of filling factors and interaction parameters. The shape of the resulting WCs is determined by the boundary conditions of the chosen plaquette. It is to a large extent independent on the underlying lattice, including its topology, and follows the behavior of classical point particles.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/aac690

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We study the Wigner crystallization on partially filled topological flat bands of kagome, honeycomb and checkerboard lattices. We identify the Wigner crystals (WCs) by analyzing the Cartesian and angular Fourier transform of the pair correlation density of the many-body ground state obtained using exact diagonalization. The crystallization strength, measured by the magnitude of the Fourier peaks, increases with decreasing particle density. The Wigner crystallization observed by us is a robust and general phenomenon, existing in all three lattice models for a broad range of filling factors and interaction parameters. The shape of the resulting WCs is determined by the boundary conditions of the chosen plaquette. It is to a large extent independent on the underlying lattice, including its topology, and follows the behavior of classical point particles.
We investigate an interaction-driven transition between crystalline and liquid states of strongly correlated spinless fermions within topological flat bands at low density (with filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{5}, \frac{1}{7}, \frac{1}{9}$). Using exact diagonalization for finite-size systems with periodic boundary conditions, we distinguish different phases, whose stability depends on the interaction range, controlled by the screening parameter of the Coulomb interaction. The crystalline phases are identified by a crystallization strength, calculated from the Fourier transforms of pair correlation density, while the fractional Chern insulator (FCI) phases are characterized using momentum counting rules, entanglement spectrum, and overlaps with corresponding fractional quantum Hall states. The type of the phase depends on a particular single-particle model and its topological properties. We show that for $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{7}$ and 15\frac{1}{5}51​ it is possible to tune between the Wigner crystal and fractional Chern insulator phase in the kagome lattice model with the band carrying the Chern number C=1C=1C=1. In contrast, in the C=2C=2C=2 models, the Wigner crystallization was absent at $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{5}$, and appeared at $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{9}$, suggesting that C=2C=2C=2 FCIs are more stable against the formation of crystalline order.
We study the ground states of cold atoms in the tight-binding bands built from p orbitals on a two dimensional honeycomb optical lattice. The band structure includes two completely flat bands. Exact many-body ground states with on-site repulsion can be found at low particle densities, for both fermions and bosons. We find crystalline order at n=1/6 with a sqrt[3] x sqrt[3] structure breaking a number of discrete lattice symmetries. In fermionic systems, if the repulsion is strong enough, we find the bonding strength becomes dimerized at n=1/2. Experimental signatures of crystalline order can be detected through the noise correlations in time of flight experiments.
Abstract Flat-band systems are ideal model systems to study strong correlations. In a large class of one or two dimensional bosonic systems with a lowest flat-band it has been shown that at a critical density the ground states are Wigner crystals. Under very special conditions it has been shown that pair formation occurs if one adds another particle to the system. The present paper extends this result to a much larger class of lattices and to a much broader region in the parameter space. Further, a lower bound for the energy gap between these pair states and the rest of the spectrum is established. The pair states are dominated by a subspace spanned by states containing a compactly localised pair. Overall, this strongly suggests localised pair formation in the ground states of the broad class of flat-band systems and rigorously proves it for some of the graphs in it, including the inhomogeneous chequerboard chain as well as two novel examples of regular two dimensional graphs. Physically, this means that the Wigner crystal remains intact if one adds a particle to it.
The physics of strongly correlated quantum particles within a flat band was originally explored as a route to itinerant ferromagnetism and, indeed, a celebrated theorem by Lieb rigorously establishes that the ground state of the repulsive Hubbard model on a bipartite lattice with an unequal number of sites in each sublattice must have nonzero spin SSS at half filling. Recently, there has been interest in Lieb geometries due to the possibility of topological insulator, nematic, and Bose-Einstein condensed (BEC) phases. In this paper, we extend the understanding of the attractive Hubbard model on the Lieb lattice by using determinant quantum Monte Carlo to study real space charge and pair correlation functions not addressed by the Lieb theorems. Specifically, our results show unusual charge and charge transfer signatures within the flat band, and a reduction in pairing order at $\ensuremath{\rho}=2/3$ and $\ensuremath{\rho}=4/3$, the points at which the flat band is first occupied and then completely filled. We compare our results to the case of flat bands in the Kagome lattice and demonstrate that the behavior observed in the two cases is rather different.
Kagome metals exhibit a rich interplay of topology, electronic correlations, and lattice dynamics. Recent discoveries of Kagome materials with a flat band near the Fermi level have revealed a variety of correlated electronic phases. However, elucidating their microscopic origin remains challenging, as realistic descriptions require accounting for multiple orbitals and competing interactions on an equal footing. To disentangle correlation effects from material-specific details and identify the essential physics of the flat-band regime, we study the single-orbital Kagome-Hubbard model at flat-band fillings using dynamical mean-field theory. We find strong signatures of flat-band ferromagnetism, consistent with exact and mean-field ground-state results. Moreover, we uncover an unconventional quasi-ordered phase in which a partially filled spin-polarized flat band pinned at the Fermi level gives rise to persistent local spin fluctuations down to zero temperature, in striking contrast to the classical behavior expected for a conventional ferromagnet. Our results demonstrate that these anomalous fluctuations are an intrinsic consequence of the flat-band degeneracy and establish a minimal framework for understanding correlation effects in flat-band Kagome systems.