- Letter
Non-Bloch Dirac points and phase diagram in the stacked non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model
Phys. Rev. B 111, L241109 – Published 11 June, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rrxt-s2jp
Abstract
Topological semimetals exhibit protected band crossings in momentum space, accompanied by corresponding surface states. Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians introduce geometry-sensitive features that dissolve this bulk-boundary correspondence principle. In this paper, we exemplify this phenomenon by investigating a non-Hermitian 2D stacked SSH chain model with nonreciprocal hopping and on-site gain/loss. We derive an analytical phase diagram in terms of the complex energy gaps in the open-boundary spectrum. The phase diagram reveals the existence of non-Bloch Dirac points, which feature a real spectrum and only appear under open boundary conditions but disappear in Bloch bands under periodic boundary conditions. Due to the reality of the spectrum in the vicinity of non-Bloch Dirac points, we can locally map it to Hermitian semimetals within the Altland-Zirnabuer symmetry classes. Based on this mapping, we demonstrate that non-Bloch Dirac points are characterized by an integer topological charge. Unlike the band crossings in Hermitian semimetals, the locations of the non-Bloch Dirac points under different boundary geometries do not match each other, indicating a geometry-dependent bulk-boundary correspondence in non-Hermitian semimetals. Our findings provide new pathways into establishing unconventional bulk-boundary correspondence for non-Bloch Dirac metals in non-Hermitian systems.