Topological crystalline insulator in a new bi semiconducting phase
Topological crystalline insulators are a type of topological insulators whose topological surface states are protected by a crystal symmetry, thus the surface gap can be tuned by applying strain or an electric field. In this paper we predict by means of ab initio calculations a new phase of Bi which...
| Published in: | Scientific Reports [Еlectronic resource] Vol. 6. P. 21790 (1-9) |
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| Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://vital.lib.tsu.ru/vital/access/manager/Repository/vtls:000576654 Перейти в каталог НБ ТГУ |
| Summary: | Topological crystalline insulators are a type of topological insulators whose topological surface states are protected by a crystal symmetry, thus the surface gap can be tuned by applying strain or an electric field. In this paper we predict by means of ab initio calculations a new phase of Bi which is a topological crystalline insulator characterized by a mirror Chern number nM = −2, but not a strong topological insulator. This system presents an exceptional property: at the (001) surface its Dirac cones are pinned at the surface high-symmetry points. As a consequence they are also protected by time-reversal symmetry and can survive against weak disorder even if in-plane mirror symmetry is broken at the surface. Taking advantage of this dual protection, we present a strategy to tune the band-gap based on a topological phase transition unique to this system. Since the spin-texture of these topological surface states reduces the back-scattering in carrier transport, this effective band-engineering is expected to be suitable for electronic and optoelectronic devices with reduced dissipation. |
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| Bibliography: | Библиогр.: 49 назв. |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |