Experimental realisation of the topological Haldane model

Abstract

The Haldane model on the honeycomb lattice is a paradigmatic example of a Hamiltonian featuring topologically distinct phases of matter. It describes a mechanism through which a quantum Hall effect can appear as an intrinsic property of a band-structure, rather than being caused by an external magnetic field. Although an implementation in a material was considered unlikely, it has provided the conceptual basis for theoretical and experimental research exploring topological insulators and superconductors. Here we report on the experimental realisation of the Haldane model and the characterisation of its topological band-structure, using ultracold fermionic atoms in a periodically modulated optical honeycomb lattice. The model is based on breaking time-reversal symmetry as well as inversion symmetry. The former is achieved through the introduction of complex next-nearest-neighbour tunnelling terms, which we induce through circular modulation of the lattice position. For the latter, we create an energy offset between neighbouring sites. Breaking either of these symmetries opens a gap in the band-structure, which is probed using momentum-resolved interband transitions. We explore the resulting Berry-curvatures of the lowest band by applying a constant force to the atoms and find orthogonal drifts analogous to a Hall current. The competition between both broken symmetries gives rise to a transition between topologically distinct regimes. By identifying the vanishing gap at a single Dirac point, we map out this transition line experimentally and compare it to calculations using Floquet theory without free parameters. We verify that our approach, which allows for dynamically tuning topological properties, is suitable even for interacting fermionic systems. Furthermore, we propose a direct extension to realise spin-dependent topological Hamiltonians.