Alexandradinata A, Fang Chen, Gilbert Matthew J, Bernevig B Andrei
Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA and Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA and Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, University of Illinois, 208 N. Wright Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2014 Sep 12;113(11):116403. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.116403.
We explore the 32 crystallographic point groups and identify topological phases of matter with robust surface modes. For n=3,4, and 6 of the C_{nv} groups, we find the first-known 3D topological insulators without spin-orbit coupling, and with surface modes that are protected only by point groups; i.e., the relevant symmetries are purely crystalline and do not include time reversal. To describe these C_{nv} systems, we introduce the notions of (a) a halved mirror chirality, an integer invariant which characterizes half-mirror-planes in the 3D Brillouin zone, and (b) a bent Chern number, the traditional Thouless-Kohmoto-Nightingale-den Nijs invariant generalized to bent 2D manifolds. We find that a Weyl semimetallic phase intermediates two gapped phases with distinct halved chiralities. In addition to electronic systems without spin-orbit coupling, our findings also apply to intrinsically spinless systems such as photonic crystals and ultracold atoms.
我们探索了32种晶体学点群,并确定了具有稳健表面模式的物质拓扑相。对于(C_{nv})群中(n = 3)、(4)和(6)的情况,我们发现了首例无自旋轨道耦合的三维拓扑绝缘体,其表面模式仅由点群保护;也就是说,相关对称性纯粹是晶体学的,不包括时间反演对称性。为了描述这些(C_{nv})系统,我们引入了以下概念:(a) 减半镜面手性,这是一个整数不变量,用于表征三维布里渊区中的半镜面平面;(b) 弯曲陈数,它是传统的 Thouless-Kohmoto-Nightingale-den Nijs 不变量向弯曲二维流形的推广。我们发现,一个外尔半金属相介于两个具有不同减半手性的带隙相之间。除了无自旋轨道耦合的电子系统外,我们的发现还适用于诸如光子晶体和超冷原子等本征无自旋的系统。