Non-equilibrium topological phase transitions in two-dimensional optical lattices

Abstract

Recently, concepts of topological phases of matter are extended to non-equilibrium systems, especially periodically driven systems. In this paper, we construct an example which shows non-equilibrium topological phase transitions using ultracold fermions in optical lattices. We show that the Rabi oscillation has the possibility to induce non-equilibrium topological phases which are classified into time-reversal-invariant topological insulators for a two-orbital model of alkaline-earth-metal atoms. Furthermore we study the non-equilibrium topological phases using time-dependent Schrieffer-Wolff-type perturbation theory, and we obtain an analytical expression to describe the topological phase transitions from a high-frequency limit of external driving fields.