28 May 2024 | Feng Chen, Wei-Wei Luo, Wei Zhu, and D. N. Sheng
The paper investigates the possibility of realizing a robust non-Abelian even-denominator fractional Chern insulator (FCI) in the half-filled Chern band of twisted bilayer MoTe₂. Using a continuum model, the authors demonstrate that three consecutive nearly flat Chern bands with the same Chern number can be stabilized by tuning model parameters. When the second moiré miniband is half-filled, exact diagonalization calculations reveal signatures of non-Abelian states, including a stable six-fold ground state degeneracy that grows more robust with larger lattice sizes. Flux insertion simulations further confirm a 1/2 quantized many-body Chern number, indicating topological order. The absence of sharp peaks in the ground state density structure factors suggests no charge density wave order. These findings suggest that the even-denominator 3/2 FCI is a promising candidate for realization in twisted bilayer MoTe₂ at zero magnetic field. The study provides numerical evidence and theoretical support for the potential of observing non-Abelian states in this material.The paper investigates the possibility of realizing a robust non-Abelian even-denominator fractional Chern insulator (FCI) in the half-filled Chern band of twisted bilayer MoTe₂. Using a continuum model, the authors demonstrate that three consecutive nearly flat Chern bands with the same Chern number can be stabilized by tuning model parameters. When the second moiré miniband is half-filled, exact diagonalization calculations reveal signatures of non-Abelian states, including a stable six-fold ground state degeneracy that grows more robust with larger lattice sizes. Flux insertion simulations further confirm a 1/2 quantized many-body Chern number, indicating topological order. The absence of sharp peaks in the ground state density structure factors suggests no charge density wave order. These findings suggest that the even-denominator 3/2 FCI is a promising candidate for realization in twisted bilayer MoTe₂ at zero magnetic field. The study provides numerical evidence and theoretical support for the potential of observing non-Abelian states in this material.