(Poster) Robust edge states induced by electron-phonon interaction in graphene nanoribbons

HERNAN L. CALVO

Trieste

Conferencia; Quantum Dynamics of Disordered Interacting Systems; 2018

ICTP

Generation and control over topological states of matter is at the front ofmany joint efforts, including dopant band-gap engineering, interaction effects, and Floquet topological insulators. We here explore many-bodyeffects given by electron-phonon interaction as a way to induce topological phase transitions in graphene nanoribbons. Exploiting the similarity with Floquet topological insulators, we investigate the emergence of novel topological edge states in graphene nanoribbonscoupled to a longitudinal optical mode. We evaluate the local density ofstates, energy spectrum and the Zak's phase to confirm the bulk-boundary correspondence for both native and e-ph interaction induced topological states. Robustness against disorder and vacancies is evaluated in several ribbon geometries. Our results reveal a marked difference between the two types of topological states: while the presence of native states strongly depends on the ribbon border and local disorder around the sample's edges, the presence of vibration induced edge-states is granted as far as the phonon sidebands are not fully separated. The remarkable observed stability of these states makes them promising for novel applications in optoelectronics and nanoelectronics in general.