Evidence for a higher-order topological insulator in a three-dimensional material built from van der Waals stacking of bismuth-halide chains

DOI: 10.1038/s41563-020-00871-7

Authors: Ryo Noguchi (The University of Tokyo) , Masaru Kobayashi (Tokyo Institute of Technology) , Zhanzhi Jiang (University of Texas at Austin) , Kenta Kuroda (The University of Tokyo) , Takanari Takahashi (Tokyo Institute of Technology) , Zifan Xu (University of Texas at Austin) , Daehun Lee (University of Texas at Austin) , Motoaki Hirayama (RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS)) , Masayuki Ochi (Osaka University) , Tetsuroh Shirasawa (National Metrology Institute of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology) , Peng Zhang (The University of Tokyo) , Chun Lin (The University of Tokyo) , Cédric Bareille (The University of Tokyo) , Shunsuke Sakuragi (The University of Tokyo) , Hiroaki Tanaka (The University of Tokyo) , So Kunisada (The University of Tokyo) , Kifu Kurokawa (The University of Tokyo) , Koichiro Yaji (The University of Tokyo) , Ayumi Harasawa (The University of Tokyo) , Viktor Kandyba (Elettra Synchrotron Trieste) , Alessio Giampietri (Elettra Synchrotron Trieste) , Alexei Barinov (Elettra Synchrotron Trieste) , Timur K. Kim (Diamond Light Source) , Cephise Cacho (Diamond Light Source) , Makoto Hashimoto (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) , Donghui Lu (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) , Shik Shin (The University of Tokyo) , Ryotaro Arita (RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS); The University of Tokyo) , Keji Lai (University of Texas at Austin) , Takao Sasagawa (Tokyo Institute of Technology) , Takeshi Kondo (The University of Tokyo)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nature Materials , VOL 98

State: Published (Approved)
Published: January 2021
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 20445

Abstract: Low-dimensional van der Waals materials have been extensively studied as a platform with which to generate quantum effects. Advancing this research, topological quantum materials with van der Waals structures are currently receiving a great deal of attention. Here, we use the concept of designing topological materials by the van der Waals stacking of quantum spin Hall insulators. Most interestingly, we find that a slight shift of inversion centre in the unit cell caused by a modification of stacking induces a transition from a trivial insulator to a higher-order topological insulator. Based on this, we present angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy results showing that the real three-dimensional material Bi4Br4 is a higher-order topological insulator. Our demonstration that various topological states can be selected by stacking chains differently, combined with the advantages of van der Waals materials, offers a playground for engineering topologically non-trivial edge states towards future spintronics applications.

Journal Keywords: Electronic properties and materials; Topological insulators

Diamond Keywords: Spintronics

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I05-ARPES

Other Facilities: Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource; Elettra

Added On: 11/01/2021 09:38

Discipline Tags:

Quantum Materials Hard condensed matter - electronic properties Physics Electronics Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Spectroscopy Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES)