Description
I will outline how strong light-matter interaction can be
used to induce quantum phase transition between normal and
topological phases in two-dimensional topological
insulators. The example case is a HgTe quantum well, in
which band inversion occurs above a critical value of the
well-thickness, and it will be delineated that coupling
between electron states and the E-field from an off-resonant
laser provides a powerful tool to control topological
transitions, even for a thickness of the quantum well that
is below the critical value where normally topological edge
states occur. The dependence of topological phase properties
of the edge states, including their group velocity, will be
discussed from an analytic perspective. I will then hint
towards possible new experimental means with which to
investigate topological insulators, that are discussed in
the talk. Importantly, all the topological effects that will
be discussed here could be realized in a controllable and
reversible manner, simply by changing the intensity of the
electromagnetic radiation. Technology that relies on these
topological states will be extrapolated, hinting towards a
possible new field of topotronics.
I believe this will be interesting for a broad audience. For
a detail of the talk please have a look at the arXiv version
(https://arxiv.org/pdf/1701.06756.pdf). The paper is now
being reviewed in Physical Review Letters.
