Fibonacci-modulation-induced multiple topological Anderson insulators

Topological Anderson insulators (TAIs) provide a mechanism for topological phase transitions in disordered systems and have implications for quantum material design. In this work, we investigate the emergence of multiple TAIs in a one-dimensional spin-orbit coupled (SOC) chain subject to Fibonacci m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCommunications physics Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 336 - 9
Main Authors Ji, Ruijiang, Xu, Zhihao
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 16.08.2025
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects
639/766/119/2792/4128
639/766/36/1125
Bose-Einstein condensates
Cold atoms
Crystal lattices
Eigenvectors
Energy spectra
Fractals
Insulators
Lattice vibration
Localization
Modulation
Phase transitions
Phases
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Topology
Wave functions
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Summary:Topological Anderson insulators (TAIs) provide a mechanism for topological phase transitions in disordered systems and have implications for quantum material design. In this work, we investigate the emergence of multiple TAIs in a one-dimensional spin-orbit coupled (SOC) chain subject to Fibonacci modulation, which transforms a trivial band structure into a sequence of topologically nontrivial phases. This behavior is characterized by the appearance of zero-energy modes and changes in the Z 2 topological quantum number. As the SOC amplitude decreases, the number of TAI phases increases, a feature that is closely related to the fractal structure of the energy spectrum induced by Fibonacci modulation. In contrast to conventional TAI phases with fully localized eigenstates, the wave functions in the Fibonacci-modulated TAI phases display multifractal properties. This model can be experimentally realized using a Bose-Einstein condensate in a momentum-space lattice, where its topological transitions and multifractal features can be explored through quench dynamics. Topological Anderson insulators are quantum phases that can arise in disordered systems and are of interest for both fundamental research and future materials. Here, the authors show that applying Fibonacci modulation to a 1D spin-orbit coupled chain generates multiple topological Anderson insulator phases with multifractal wave functions, which may be observed experimentally in cold atom setups
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ISSN:2399-3650
2399-3650
DOI:10.1038/s42005-025-02264-1