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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Simulating the Haldane model in ultraclean GaAs heterostructures

Francesco Cioni1,*,†, Lorenzo Cavicchi2,*, Fabio Taddei3, and Marco Polini4

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: francesco.cioni@sns.it
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Phys. Rev. B 114, L291405 – Published 9 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rk2w-qmk7

Abstract

The Haldane model represents the minimal lattice-based realization of a Chern insulator, exhibiting a quantized Hall conductance in the absence of Landau levels. Despite its conceptual elegance, the implementation in crystalline solids of the requisite pattern of Peierls phases breaking time-reversal symmetry remains experimentally demanding. In this work, we theoretically investigate the possibility to simulate the Haldane model in ultraclean GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. Our proposal relies on recent experiments in which a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas is subject to a gate-defined honeycomb electrostatic potential and a laterally periodic magnetic field generated by patterned ferromagnetic structures. The combined electrostatic and magnetic superlattices furnish a viable route to emulate the topological properties of the Haldane model.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, L291405– Published 9 November, 2026
  • Received 25 June 2026
  • Revised 11 October 2026
  • Accepted 22 October 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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