1. Evidence of a topological edge state in a superconducting nonsymmorphic nodal-line semimetal
- Author
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Kui Huang, Meixiao Wang, Xun Zhang, S.M. Liu, Tao Deng, Lexian Yang, Gang Li, Lixuan Xu, Chang-Ying Wang, Yuanjun Chen, Zhongkai Liu, W. Xia, Yulin Chen, L.Y. Wei, Y. W. Li, Aiji Liang, H. J. Zheng, Yunyouyou Xia, Hongyuan Wang, H. F. Yang, and Yanfeng Guo
- Subjects
Physics ,Superconductivity ,Condensed Matter - Materials Science ,Spintronics ,Photoemission spectroscopy ,Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy ,02 engineering and technology ,Electronic structure ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Topology ,01 natural sciences ,Semimetal ,law.invention ,Condensed Matter::Materials Science ,law ,Condensed Matter::Superconductivity ,Topological insulator ,0103 physical sciences ,Condensed Matter::Strongly Correlated Electrons ,Scanning tunneling microscope ,010306 general physics ,0210 nano-technology - Abstract
Topological materials host fascinating low dimensional gapless states at the boundary. As a prominent example, helical topological edge states (TESs) of two-dimensional topological insulators (2DTIs) and their stacked three-dimensional (3D) equivalent, weak topological insulators (WTIs), have sparked research enthusiasm due to their potential application in the next generation of electronics/spintronics with low dissipation. Here, we propose layered superconducting material CaSn as a WTI with nontrivial Z2 as well as nodal line semimetal protected by crystalline non-symmorphic symmetry. Our systematic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) investigation on the electronic structure exhibits excellent agreement with the calculation. Furthermore, scanning tunnelling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) at the surface step edge shows signatures of the expected TES. These integrated evidences from ARPES, STM/STS measurement and corresponding ab initio calculation strongly support the existence of TES in the non-symmorphic nodal line semimetal CaSn, which may become a versatile material platform to realize multiple exotic electronic states as well as topological superconductivity.
- Published
- 2021
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