Topological phases of a dimerized Fermi-Hubbard model for semiconductor nano-lattices

npj Quantum Information 6, 24 (2020) Motivated by recent advances in fabricating artificial lattices insemiconductors and their promise for quantum simulation of topologicalmaterials, we study the one-dimensional dimerized Fermi-Hubbard model. We showhow the topological phases at half-filling can be characterized by a reducedZak phase defined based on the reduced density matrix of each spin subsystem.Signatures of bulk-boundary correspondence are observed in the triplonexcitation of the bulk and the edge states of uncoupled spins at theboundaries. At quarter-filling we show that owing to the presence of theHubbard interaction the system can undergo a transition to the topologicalground state of the non-interacting Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with theapplication of a moderate-strength external magnetic field. We propose a robustexperimental realization with a chain of dopant atoms in silicon orgate-defined quantum dots in GaAs where the transition can be probed bymeasuring the tunneling current through the many-body state of the chain