Unconventional Fractional Phases in Multiband Vortexable Systems
We study topological flat bands with distinct features that deviate from conventional Landau level behavior. We show that even in the ideal quantum geometry limit, moiré flat band systems can exhibit physical phenomena fundamentally different from Landau levels without lattices. In particular, we find new fractional quantum Hall states emerging from multiband vortexable systems, where multiple exactly flat bands appear at the Fermi energy. While the set of bands as a whole exhibits ideal quantum geometry, individual bands separately lose vortexability, and thus making them very different from a stack of Landau levels. At certain filling fractions, we find fractional states whose Hall conductivity deviates from the filling factor. Through careful numerical and analytical studies, we rule out all known mechanisms-such as fractional quantum Hall crystals or separate filling of trivial and topological bands-as possible explanations. Leveraging the exact solvability of vortexable systems, we use analytic Bloch wave functions to uncover the origin of these new fractional states, which arises from the commensurability between the moiré unit cell and the magnetic unit cell of an emergent effective magnetic field.
Authors
- Kai Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9595-7646)
- Ang-Kun Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7018-1674)
- Shi‐Zeng Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4368-5244)
- Xiaohan Wan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6517-072X)
- Siddhartha Sarkar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7269-4289)
Institutions
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (DE)
- Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-11-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/jmk4-46tj
- Primary Topic
- Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
- Office of Science
- National Nuclear Security Administration
- Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
- Office of Naval Research
- Laboratory Directed Research and Development
- Los Alamos National Laboratory