Phonon-induced topological insulating phases in group IV-VI semiconductors

Abstract

Development of topological insulating phases in IV-VI compounds under dynamic lattice deformations is studied using first-principles methods. Unlike the static state of topological phases at equilibrium conditions, we show that non-trivial topological phases are induced in the compounds by the dynamic lattice deformations from selective phonon modes. Calculations of the time-reversal polarization show that the Z2 invariant of the compounds is flipped by the atomic displacements of selective phonon modes and that the compounds exhibit oscillating topological phases upon dynamic lattice deformations. Our results indicate that the elementary excitations in solids can trigger topological phases in trivial band insulators.

15 pages, 4 figures

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• Unraveling the topology of ZrTe${}_5$ by changing temperature
• Temperature dependence of the bulk Rashba splitting in the bismuth tellurohalides
• Phonon-Induced Topological Transition to a Type-II Weyl Semimetal
• Topological semimetallic phase in PbO${}_2$ promoted by temperature
• Robust edge states induced by electron-phonon interaction in graphene nanoribbons
• Towards temperature-induced topological phase transition in SnTe: A first principles study
• Influence of local symmetry on lattice dynamics coupled to topological surface states
• Phononic dynamical axion in magnetic Dirac insulators
• Ab-initio Simulations of Coherent Phonon-Induced Pumping of Carriers in Zirconium Pentatelluride