Dirac electron under periodic magnetic field: Platform for fractional Chern insulator and generalized Wigner crystal

Abstract

We propose a platform for flat Chern band by subjecting two-dimensional Dirac materials -- such as graphene and topological insulator thin films -- to a periodic magnetic field, which can be created by the vortex lattice of a type-II superconductor. As a generalization of the $n=0$ Landau level, the flat band of Dirac fermion under a nonuniform magnetic field remains at zero energy, exactly dispersionless and topologically protected, while its local density of states is spatially modulated due to the magnetic field variation. In the presence of short-range repulsion, we find fractional Chern insulators emerge at filling factors $\nu=1/m$, whose ground states are generalized Laughlin wavefunctions. We further argue that generalized Wigner crystals may emerge at certain commensurate fillings under a highly nonuniform magnetic field in the form of a flux line lattice.