Optical control of topological memory based on orbital magnetization

Journal Article · 16 February 2022 · Physical Review. B

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.105.064423 · OSTI ID:1924252

Pershoguba, Sergey S. ^[1]; Yakovenko, Victor M.  ^[2]

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1. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States); Physics Department, University of New Hampshire
2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)

Under suitable conditions, some twisted graphene multilayers and transition-metal dichalcogenides become Chern insulators, exhibiting the anomalous quantum Hall effect and orbital magnetization due to spontaneous valley polarization. We study the interaction of a Chern insulator with circularly polarized light. Here, the interaction energy contains an antisymmetric term that couples to the helicity of incident light. For a two-band Chern insulator, this term is expressed as an integral involving the Berry curvature of the system. Taking advantage of this interaction, we propose an experimental protocol for switching topological memory based on orbital magnetization by circularly polarized light. Moreover, two laser beams of opposite circular polarization can nucleate domains of opposite magnetization and thus produce an optically configurable domain wall carrying topologically protected chiral edge modes.

• Research Organization: Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0020221
• OSTI ID: 1924252
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Journal Name: Physical Review. B Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 105; ISSN 2469-9950
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English