Haldane model on the Sierpiński gasket

Abstract

We investigate the topological phases of the Haldane model on the Sierpi\'nski gasket. As a consequence of the fractal geometry, multiple fractal gaps arise. Additionally, a flat band appears, and due to a complex next-nearest neighbour hopping, this band splits and multiple topological flux-induced gaps emerge. Owing to the fractal nature of the model, conventional momentum-space topological invariants cannot be used. Therefore, we characterise the system's topology in terms of a real-space Chern number. In addition, we verify the robustness of the topological states to disorder. Finally, we present phase diagrams for both a fractal gap and a flux-induced gap. Previous work on a similar system claims that fractality "squeezes" the well-known Haldane phase diagram. However, this result arises because a doubled system was considered with two Sierpi\'nski gaskets glued together. We consider only a single copy of the Sierpi\'nski gasket, keeping global self-similarity. In contrast with these previous results, we find intricate and complex patterns in the phase diagram of this single fractal. Our work shows that the fractality of the model greatly influences the phase space of these structures, and can drive topological phases in the multitude of fractal and flux-induced gaps, providing a richer platform than a conventional integer dimensional geometry.