We propose a universal practical approach to realize magnetic second-order topological insulator (SOTI) materials, based on properly breaking the time reversal symmetry in conventional (first-order) topological insulators. The approach works for both
three dimensions (3D) and two dimensions (2D), and is particularly suitable for 2D, where it can be achieved by coupling a quantum spin Hall insulator with a magnetic substrate. Using first-principles calculations, we predict bismuthene on EuO(111) surface as the first realistic system for a 2D magnetic SOTI. We explicitly demonstrate the existence of the protected corner states. Benefited from the large spin-orbit coupling and sizable magnetic proximity effect, these corner states are located in a boundary gap $sim 83$ meV, hence can be readily probed in experiment. By controlling the magnetic phase transition, a topological phase transition between a first-order TI and a SOTI can be simultaneously achieved in the system. The effect of symmetry breaking, the connection with filling anomaly, and the experimental detection are discussed.
In this paper, we propose an efficient implementation of combining Dynamical Mean field theory (DMFT) with electronic structure calculation based on the local density approximation (LDA). The pseudo-potential-plane-wave method is used in the LDA part
, which makes it possible to be applied to large systems. The full loop self consistency of the charge density has been reached in our implementation which allows us to compute the total energy related properties. The procedure of LDA+DMFT is introduced in detail with a complete flow chart. We have also applied our code to study the electronic structure of several typical strong correlated materials, including Cerium, Americium and NiO. Our results fit quite well with both the experimental data and previous studies.
