Absence of helical surface states in bulk semimetals with broken inversion symmetry
Open accessAbstract
Whereas the concept of topological band structures was developed originally for insulators with a bulk band gap, it has become increasingly clear that the prime consequences of a nontrivial topology---spin-momentum locking of surface states---can also be encountered in gapless systems. We show that point-group symmetries allow for helical semimetals, i.e., semimetals with Dirac-like topological surface states, to exist. The presence of this state, however, critically depends on the presence of crystal inversion symmetry. Using the paradigmatic example of mercury chalcogenides HgX (X = Te, Se, S), we show that an infinitesimally small broken inversion symmetry (BIS) renders the helical semimetallic state unstable. The BIS is also very important in the fully gapped topological insulating regime, renormalizing the surface Dirac cones in an anisotropic manner. As a consequence, the handedness of the Dirac cones can be flipped by a biaxial stress field.
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Lowering of the symmetry by in-plane strain or by spatially modulated potentials can mix states within the degenerate manifold and revert to a gapped phase (Ortix et al., 2014; Yu et al., 2015).
“Nonetheless in this latter case lowering of the symmetry by in-plane strain or by spatially modulated potentials can mix states within the degenerate manifold and revert to a gapped phase (Ortix et al. , 2014; Yu et al. , 2015).”
From Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids (2018) · cites this paper as Ortix et al., 2014
Cites
Observation of a large-gap topological-insulator class with a single Dirac cone on the surface
Xia, Y., Qian, D., Hsieh, D., Wray, L., Pal, A., Lin, H., Bansil, A., Grauer, D., Hor, Y. S., Cava, R. J., et al. (2009) · Nature Physics · doi:10.1038/nphys1274 · Cited by 3,765 · see citing works
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Weyl and Dirac semimetals in three-dimensional solids
Armitage, N. P., Mele, E. J., & Vishwanath, A. (2018) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.90.015001 · Cited by 4,528 · see citing works
“Nonetheless in this latter case lowering of the symmetry by in-plane strain or by spatially modulated potentials can mix states within the degenerate manifold and revert to a gapped phase (Ortix et al., 2014; Yu et al., 2015).”
Background<i>Colloquium</i> : Topological band theory
Bansil, A., Lin, H., & Das, T. (2016) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.88.021004 · Cited by 1,587 · see citing works
Weyl and Dirac Semimetals in Three Dimensional Solids
Armitage, N. P., Mele, E. J., & Vishwanath, A. (2017) · arXiv
“Nonetheless in this latter case lowering of the symmetry by in-plane strain or by spatially modulated potentials can mix states within the degenerate manifold and revert to a gapped phase (Ortix et al., 2014; Yu et al., 2015).”
Background
- Authors
- Ortix, C., Venderbos, J. W. F., Hayn, R., & van den Brink, J.
- Affiliations
- Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (DE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Venue
- Physical Review B
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2014-03-14
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 12
- ISSN
- 1098-0121 (ISSN-L)
- 1550-235X
- OpenAlex
- W2070664437
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 0.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- Physical Review B (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › 2D Materials and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Advanced Condensed Matter Physics
- Keywords
- inversion symmetry breaking, topological surface states, Dirac cones, point group symmetry, mercury chalcogenides, topological insulators, biaxial stress, spin-momentum locking
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