Dislocation charges reveal two-dimensional topological crystalline invariants

Abstract

We identify a one-to-one correspondence between the charge localized around a dislocation characterized by a generic Burgers vector and the Berry phase associated with the electronic Bloch waves of two-dimensional crystalline insulators. Using this correspondence, we reveal a link between dislocation charges and the topological invariants of inversion and rotation symmetry-protected insulating phases both in the absence and in the presence of time-reversal symmetry. Our findings demonstrate that dislocation charges can be used as generic probes of crystalline topologies.