Efficient algorithm to compute the Berry conductivity
Abstract
We propose and construct a numerical algorithm to calculate the Berry conductivity in topological band insulators. The method is applicable to cold atom systems as well as solid state setups, both for the insulating case where the Fermi energy lies in the gap between two bulk bands as well as in the metallic regime and interpolates smoothly between both regimes. The algorithm is gauge-invariant by construction, efficient and yields the Berry conductivity with known and controllable statistical error bars. We apply the algorithm to several paradigmatic models in the field of topological insulators, including Haldane's model on the honeycomb lattice, the multi-band Hofstadter model and the BHZ model, which describes the 2D spin Hall effect observed in CdTe/HgTe/CdTe quantum well heterostructures.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1401.1819,
title = {Efficient algorithm to compute the Berry conductivity},
author = {A. Dauphin and M. Müller and M. A. Martin-Delgado},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.1819},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
Revtex4 file, color figures. Revised version published in New Journal of Physics