Metallic surface electronic state in half-Heusler compounds RPtBi (R = Lu, Dy, Gd)

Abstract

Rare-earth platinum bismuth (RPtBi) has been recently proposed to be a potential topological insulator. In this paper we present measurements of the metallic surface electronic structure in three members of this family, using angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Our data shows clear spin-orbit splitting of the surface bands and the Kramers' degeneracy of spins at the Gamma and M points, which is nicely reproduced with our full-potential augmented plane wave calculation for a surface electronic state. No direct indication of topologically non-trivial behavior is detected, except for a weak Fermi crossing detected in close vicinity to the Gamma point, making the total number of Fermi crossings odd. In the surface band calculation, however, this crossing is explained by another Kramers' pair where the two splitting bands are very close to each other. The classification of this family of materials as topological insulators remains an open question.

6 pages, 5 figures

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• Prediction of triple point fermions in simple half-Heusler topological insulators
• Half-Heusler topological insulators
• Edge and Interfacial States in a 2D Topological Insulator:Bi(111) Bilayer on Bi${}_2$Te${}_2$Se
• Strain tuning of topological band order in cubic semiconductors
• Field-induced magnetic phase transitions and the resultant giant anomalous Hall effect in antiferromagnetic half-Heusler DyPtBi
• Three-dimensional topological insulators: A review on host materials
• Observation of Dirac surface states in the noncentrosymmetric superconductor BiPd
• Generalized Slater-Pauling rule for the inverse Heusler compounds
• Prediction of topological insulating behavior in Hg2CuTi-type Heusler compounds from first principles
• NMR evidence for enhanced orbital diamagnetism in topologically nontrivial half-Heusler semimetals
• Fabrication and characterization of the gapless half-Heusler YPtSb thin films
• Linear Response in Topological Materials
• Topological antiferromagnetic spintronics: Part of a collection of reviews on antiferromagnetic spintronics
• Non-trivial topological valence bands of common diamond and zinc-blende semiconductors