arXiv:2206.06660 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B
Symmetry-protected topological corner modes in a periodically driven interacting spin lattice
Kelvin Koor, Raditya Weda Bomantara, L. C. Kwek
Abstract
Periodic driving has a longstanding reputation for generating exotic phases of matter with no static counterparts. This work explores the interplay between periodic driving, interaction effects, and ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ symmetry that leads to the emergence of Floquet symmetry protected second-order topological phases in a simple but insightful two-dimensional spin-1/2 lattice. Through a combination of analytical and numerical treatments, we verify the formation of corner-localized 0 and $\ensuremath{\pi}$ modes, i.e., ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ symmetry broken operators that commute and anticommute, respectively, with the one-period time evolution operator, as well as establish the topological nature of these modes by demonstrating their presence over a wide range of parameter values and explicitly deriving their associated topological invariants under special conditions. Finally, we propose a means to detect the signature of such modes in experiments, and we discuss the effect of imperfections.