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Nontrivial topological valence bands of common diamond and zinc-blende semiconductors
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.3.064203
Authors:
Tomáš
Rauch
(Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena)
,
Victor A.
Rogalev
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Maximilian
Bauernfeind
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Julian
Maklar
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Felix
Reis
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Florian
Adler
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Simon
Moser
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Johannes
Weis
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Tien-lin
Lee
(Diamond Light Source)
,
Pardeep K.
Thakur
(Diamond Light Source)
,
Jörg
Schäfer
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Ralph
Claessen
(Universität Würzburg)
,
Jürgen
Henk
(Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)
,
Ingrid
Mertig
(Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg; Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics)
Co-authored by industrial partner:
No
Type:
Journal Paper
Journal:
Physical Review Materials
, VOL 3
, PAGES 064203
State:
Published (Approved)
Published:
June 2019
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
19512
Abstract: The diamond and zinc-blende semiconductors are well-known and have been widely studied for decades. Yet, their electronic structure still surprises with unexpected topological properties of the valence bands. In this joint theoretical and experimental investigation, we demonstrate for the benchmark compounds InSb and GaAs that the electronic structure features topological surface states below the Fermi energy. Our parity analysis shows that the spin-orbit split-off band near the valence band maximum exhibits a strong topologically nontrivial behavior characterized by the Z 2 invariants ( 1 ; 000 ) . The nontrivial character is a consequence of the nonzero spin-orbit coupling and is imposed by the chosen constituents, in contrast to the conventional topological phase transition mechanism which relies on tuning parameters in the system Hamiltonian. Ab initio-based tight-binding calculations resolve topological surface states in the occupied electronic structure of InSb and GaAs, further confirmed experimentally by soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission from both materials. Our findings are valid for all other materials whose valence bands are adiabatically linked to those of InSb, i.e., many diamond and zinc-blende semiconductors, as well as other related materials, such as half-Heusler compounds.
Journal Keywords: Symmetry protected topological states; Topological insulators; Topological phases of matter; Semiconductor compounds; Semiconductors; Topological materials; Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
Subject Areas:
Materials,
Physics
Instruments:
I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
Discipline Tags:
Technical Tags: