Abstract
Parity anomaly is a quantum mechanical effect that the parity symmetry in a two-dimensional classical action is failed to be restored in any regularization of the full quantum theory and is characterized by a half-quantized Hall conductivity. Here we propose a scheme to explore the experimental signature from parity anomaly in the measurement of optical Hall conductivity, in which the optical Hall conductivity is nearly half-quantized for a proper range of frequency. The behaviors of optical Hall conductivity are studied for several models, which reveal the appearance of half-quantized Hall conductivity in low- or high-frequency regimes. The optical Hall conductivity can be extracted from the measurement of Kerr and Faraday rotations and the absorption rate of the circularly polarized light. This proposal provides a practical method to explore the signature of parity anomaly in topological quantum materials.
- Received 16 May 2022
- Accepted 20 July 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.035149
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