title: Chiral solitons in a coupled double Peierls chain.
abstract: Chiral edge states are the hallmark of two- and three-dimensional topological materials, but their one-dimensional (1D) analog has not yet been found. We report that the 1D topological edge states, solitons, of the charge density wave system of indium atomic wires self-assembled on a silicon surface have chirality. The system is described by a coupled double Peierls-dimerized atomic chain, where the interchain coupling induces dynamical sublattice symmetry breaking. This changes its topological symmetry from Z₂× Z₂to Z₄ and endows solitons with a chiral degree of freedom. Chiral solitons can produce quantized charge transport across the chain that is topologically protected and controllable by the soliton's chirality. Individual right- and left-chiral solitons in indium wires are directly identified by scanning tunneling microscopy.
authors.affiliation: Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Pohang 790-784, Korea.
authors.forename: Sangmo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cheon
authors.affiliation: Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Pohang 790-784, Korea. Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Korea.
authors.forename: Tae-Hwan
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Pohang 790-784, Korea. shlee@ibs.re.kr yeom@postech.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Sung-Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Pohang 790-784, Korea. Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Korea. shlee@ibs.re.kr yeom@postech.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Han Woong
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Yeom