Weyl-like points from band inversions of spin-polarised surface states in NbGeSb
Date
02/12/2019Author
Grant ID
PLP-2015-144
EP/R031924/1
EP/L015110/1
URF/R/180026
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Band inversions are key to stabilising a variety of novel electronic states in solids, from topological surface states to the formation of symmetry-protected three-dimensional Dirac and Weyl points and nodal-line semimetals. Here, we create a band inversion not of bulk states, but rather between manifolds of surface states. We realise this by aliovalent substitution of Nb for Zr and Sb for S in the ZrSiS family of nonsymmorphic semimetals. Using angle-resolved photoemission and density-functional theory, we show how two pairs of surface states, known from ZrSiS, are driven to intersect each other near the Fermi level in NbGeSb, and to develop pronounced spin splittings. We demonstrate how mirror symmetry leads to protected crossing points in the resulting spin-orbital entangled surface band structure, thereby stabilising surface state analogues of three-dimensional Weyl points. More generally, our observations suggest new opportunities for engineering topologically and symmetry-protected states via band inversions of surface states.
Citation
Markovic , I , Hooley , C , Clark , O J , Mazzola , F , Watson , M D , Riley , J M , Volckaert , K , Underwood , K , Dyer , M , Murgatroyd , P , Murphy , K , Le Fèvre , P , Bertran , F , Fujii , J , Vobornik , I , Wu , S , Okuda , T , Alaria , J & King , P 2019 , ' Weyl-like points from band inversions of spin-polarised surface states in NbGeSb ' , Nature Communications , vol. 10 , 5485 , pp. 1-8 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13464-z
Publication
Nature Communications
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2041-1723Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: Leverhulme Trust (Grant No. PLP-2015-144), The Royal Society, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK (Grant No. EP/R031924/1); CALIPSOplus project under Grant Agreement 730872 from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020; International Max Planck Research School for Chemistry and Physics of Quantum Materials (IMPRS-CPQM) (I.M.); EPSRC for studentship support through grant nos. EP/K503162/1 and EP/L505079/1, and EP/L015110/1 (O.J.C., J.M.R., and K.U.).Collections
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