Peter, DavidYao, NormanLang, NicolaiHuber, Sebastian D.Lukin, MikhailBüchler, Hans Peter2016-07-212015Peter, David, Norman Y. Yao, Nicolai Lang, Sebastian D. Huber, Mikhail D. Lukin, and Hans Peter Büchler. 2015. “ Topological Bands with a Chern Number C = 2 by Dipolar Exchange Interactions .” Physical Review A 91 (5) (May 18). doi:10.1103/physreva.91.053617.1050-2947http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:27727026We demonstrate the realization of topological band structures by exploiting the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling of dipolar interactions in combination with broken time-reversal symmetry. The system is based on polar molecules trapped in a deep optical lattice, where the dynamics of rotational excitations follows a hopping Hamiltonian which is determined by the dipolar exchange interactions. We find topological bands with Chern number C=2 on the square lattice, while a very rich structure of different topological bands appears on the honeycomb lattice. We show that the system is robust against missing molecules. For certain parameters we obtain flat bands, providing a promising candidate for the realization of hard-core bosonic fractional Chern insulators.en-USJournal Article2016-07-2110.1103/PhysRevA.91.053617