Floquet M\"obius topological insulators

Abstract

M\"obius topological insulators have dispersive edge bands with M\"obius twists in momentum space, which are protected by the combination of chiral and $Z_2$-projective translational symmetries. In this work, we reveal a unique type of M\"obius topological insulator, whose edge bands could twist around the quasienergy $\pi$ of a periodically driven system and are thus of Floquet origin. By applying time-periodic quenches to an experimentally realized M\"obius insulator model, we obtain interconnected M\"obius edge bands around zero and $\pi$ quasienergies, which can coexist with a gapped or gapless bulk. These M\"obius bands are topologically characterized by a pair of generalized winding numbers, which are integer-quantized due to an emergent chiral symmetry at a high-symmetry point in momentum space. Numerical investigations of the quasienergy and entanglement spectra provide consistent evidence for the presence of such M\"obius topological phases. A protocol based on the adiabatic switching of edge-band populations is further introduced to dynamically characterize the topology of Floquet M\"obius edge bands. Our findings thus extend the scope of M\"obius topological phases to nonequilibrium settings and unveil a unique class of M\"obius-twisted topological edge states without static counterparts.