Antichiral edge states in a modified Haldane nanoribbon

Abstract

Topological phases of fermions in two-dimensions are often characterized by chiral edge states. By definition these propagate in the opposite directions at the two parallel edges when the sample geometry is that of a rectangular strip. We introduce here a model which exhibits what we call "antichiral" edge modes. These propagate in the same direction at both parallel edges of the strip and are compensated by counter-propagating modes that reside in the bulk. General arguments and numerical simulations show that backscattering is suppressed even when strong disorder is present in the system. We propose a feasible experimental realization of a system showing such antichiral edge modes in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers.

Version to be published in PRL. 7 pages, 5 figures