Cornertronics in Two-Dimensional Second-Order Topological Insulators

Traditional electronic devices rely on the electron's intrinsic degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) to process information. However, additional d.o.f., like the valley, can emerge in the low-energy states of certain systems. Here, we show that the quantum dots constructed from two-dimensional second-order topological insulators posses a new kind of d.o.f., namely corner freedom, related to the topological corner states that reside at different corners of the systems. Since the corner states are well separated in real space, they can be individually and intuitively manipulated, giving rise to the concept of cornertronics. Via symmetry analysis and material search, we identify the TiSiCO-family monolayers as the first prototype of cornertronics materials, where the corner states can be controlled by both electric and optical fields due to novel corner-layer coupling effect and corner-contrasted linear dichroism. Furthermore, we find that the band gap of the TiSiCO nanodisk lies in the terahertz region and is robust to size reduction. These results indicate that the TiSiCO nanodisks can be used to design terahertz devices with ultrasmall size and electric-field tunable band gap. Besides, the TiSiCO nanodisks are simultaneously sensitive to both the strength and polarization of the terahertz waves. Our findings not only pave the way for cornertronics, but also open a new direction for research in two-dimensional second-order topological insulators, quantum dots, and terahertz electronics.