Nontrivial gapless electronic states at the stacking faults of weak topological insulators

Gabriele Naselli, Viktor Könye, Sanjib Kumar Das, G. G. N. Angilella, Anna Isaeva, Jeroen van den Brink, and Cosma Fulga
Phys. Rev. B 106, 094105 – Published 22 September 2022

Abstract

Lattice defects such as stacking faults may obscure electronic topological features of real materials. In fact, defects are a source of disorder that can enhance the density of states and conductivity of the bulk of the system and they break crystal symmetries that can protect the topological states. On the other hand, in recent years, it has been shown that lattice defects can act as a source of nontrivial topology. Motivated by recent experiments on three-dimensional (3D) topological systems such as Bi2TeI and Bi14Rh3I9, we examine the effect of stacking faults on the electronic properties of weak topological insulators (WTIs). Working with a simple model consisting of a 3D WTI formed by weakly-coupled two-dimensional (2D) topological layers separated by trivial spacers, we find that 2D stacking faults can carry their own, topologically nontrivial gapless states. Depending on the WTI properties, as well as the way in which the stacking fault is realized, the latter can form a topologically protected 2D semimetal, but also a 2D topological insulator, which is embedded in the higher-dimensional WTI bulk. This suggests the possibility of using stacking faults in real materials as a source of topologically nontrivial, symmetry-protected conducting states.

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  • Received 16 June 2022
  • Accepted 24 August 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.094105

©2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Gabriele Naselli1,2, Viktor Könye1,2, Sanjib Kumar Das1,3, G. G. N. Angilella4,5,6, Anna Isaeva1,7, Jeroen van den Brink1,2, and Cosma Fulga1,2

  • 1Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW) Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden, Germany
  • 2Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden, Germany
  • 3Department of Physics, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, USA
  • 4Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Ettore Majorana”, Università di Catania, 64, Via S. Sofia, I-95123 Catania, Italy
  • 5Scuola Superiore di Catania, Università di Catania, 9, Via Valdisavoia, I-95123 Catania, Italy
  • 6INFN, Sez. Catania, 64, Via S. Sofia, I-95123 Catania, Italy
  • 7Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 094, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 9 — 1 September 2022

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