No Arabic abstract
Based on the first-principles study, we report a new set of topological semimetals (TiS, TiSe, TiTe, HfS, HfSe, HfTe and ZrS) which show the co-existence of a nodal-ring and triply-degenerate points. The two-fold degenerate one-dimensional nodal ring structure in the bulk Brillouin zone exhibits the characteristic drumhead surface states. In addition to this, a peculiar band crossing along the $k_z$ direction takes place consisting of a point-crossing with three-fold band degeneracy. These triply-degenerate points give rise to nexus fermions as quasiparticles having no analogous elementary particle of the standard model. In this article, we simulate angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to obtain the exotic topological surface states and the characteristic Fermi arcs, and explain the evolution and separation of triple-points with the magnitude of spin-orbit coupling. This intermediate linearly dispersive degeneracy between Weyl and Dirac points may offer prospective candidates for quantum transport applications.
Owing to the natural compatibility with current semiconductor industry, silicon allotropes with diverse structural and electronic properties provide promising platforms for the next-generation Si-based devices. After screening 230 all-silicon crystals in the zeolite frameworks by first-principles calculations, we disclose two structurally stable Si allotropes (AHT-Si24 and VFI-Si36) containing open channels as topological node-line semimetals with Dirac nodal points forming a nodal loop in the kz=0 plane of Brillouin zone. Interestingly, their nodal loops protected by inversion and time-reversal symmetries are robust against SU(2) symmetry breaking due to very weak spin-orbit coupling of Si. When the nodal lines are projected onto the (001) surface, flat surface bands can be observed because of the nontrivial topology of the bulk band structures. Our discoveries extend the topological physics to the three-dimensional Si materials, highlighting the possibility to realize low-cost, nontoxic and semiconductor-compatible Si-based electronics with topological quantum states.
We review the recent, mainly theoretical, progress in the study of topological nodal line semimetals in three dimensions. In these semimetals, the conduction and the valence bands cross each other along a one-dimensional curve in the three-dimensional Brillouin zone, and any perturbation that preserves a certain symmetry group (generated by either spatial symmetries or time-reversal symmetry) cannot remove this crossing line and open a full direct gap between the two bands. The nodal line(s) is hence topologically protected by the symmetry group, and can be associated with a topological invariant. In this Review, (i) we enumerate the symmetry groups that may protect a topological nodal line; (ii) we write down the explicit form of the topological invariant for each of these symmetry groups in terms of the wave functions on the Fermi surface, establishing a topological classification; (iii) for certain classes, we review the proposals for the realization of these semimetals in real materials and (iv) we discuss different scenarios that when the protecting symmetry is broken, how a topological nodal line semimetal becomes Weyl semimetals, Dirac semimetals and other topological phases and (v) we discuss the possible physical effects accessible to experimental probes in these materials.
Using first-principles calculation and symmetry analysis, we propose that theta-TaN is a topological semimetal having a new type of point nodes, i.e., triply degenerate nodal points. Each node is a band crossing between degenerate and non-degenerate bands along the high-symmetry line in the Brillouin zone, and is protected by crystalline symmetries. Such new type of nodes will always generate singular touching points between different Fermi surfaces and 3D spin texture around them. Breaking the crystalline symmetry by external magnetic field or strain leads to various of topological phases. By studying the Landau levels under a small field along $c$-axis, we demonstrate that the system has a new quantum anomaly that we call helical anomaly.
We theoretically study three-dimensional topological semimetals (TSMs) with nodal lines protected by crystalline symmetries. Compared with TSMs with point nodes, e.g., Weyl semimetals and Dirac semimetals, where the conduction and the valence bands touch at discrete points, in these new TSMs the two bands cross at closed lines in the Brillouin zone. We propose two new classes of symmetry protected nodal lines in the absence and in the presence of spin-orbital coupling (SOC), respectively. In the former, we discuss nodal lines that are protected by the combination of inversion symmetry and time-reversal symmetry; yet unlike any previously studied nodal lines in the same symmetry class, each nodal line has a $Z_2$ monopole charge and can only be created (annihilated) in pairs. In the second class, with SOC, we show that a nonsymmorphic symmetry (screw axis) protects a four-band crossing nodal line in systems having both inversion and time-reversal symmetries.
Based on first-principles calculations and effective model analysis, a Dirac nodal-net semimetal state is recognized in AlB$_2$-type TiB$_2$ and ZrB$_2$ when spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is ignored. Taking TiB$_2$ as an example, there are several topological excitations in this nodal-net structure including triple point, nexus, and nodal link, which are protected by coexistence of spatial-inversion symmetry and time reversal symmetry. This nodal-net state is remarkably different from that of IrF$_4$, which requires sublattice chiral symmetry. In addition, linearly and quadratically dispersed two-dimensional surface Dirac points are identified as having emerged on the B-terminated and Ti-terminated (001) surfaces of TiB$_2$ respectively, which are analogous to those of monolayer and bilayer graphene.