Topological properties of multilayers and surface steps in the SnTe material class

Abstract

Surfaces of multilayer semiconductors typically have regions of atomically flat terraces separated by atom-high steps. Here we investigate the properties of the low-energy states appearing at the surface atomic steps in \snte. We identify the important approximate symmetries and use them to construct relevant topological invariants. We calculate the dependence of mirror- and spin-resolved Chern numbers on the number of layers and show that the step states appear when these invariants are different on the two sides of the step. Moreover, we find that a particle-hole symmetry can protect one-dimensional Weyl points at the steps. Since the local density of states is large at the step the system is susceptible to different types of instabilities, and we consider an easy-axis magnetization as one realistic possibility. We show that magnetic domain walls support low-energy bound states because the regions with opposite magnetization are topologically distinct in the presence of non-symmorphic chiral and mirror symmetries, providing a possible explanation for the zero-bias conductance peak observed in the recent experiment [Mazur et al., Phys. Rev. B 100, 041408(R) (2019)]

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• Ferromagnetic phase transition in topological crystalline insulator thin films: interplay of anomalous Hall angle and magnetic anisotropy
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• Topological domain wall states in a non-symmorphic chiral chain
• Spin, orbital and topological order in models of strongly correlated electrons
• Interaction effects in a 1D flat band at a topological crystalline step edge
• Topology of chalcogen chains
• Topological electronic structure of twin boundaries and twinning superlattices in the SnTe material class
• Topological transition in Pb1-xSnxSe using Meta-GGA
• Pentagonal nanowires from topological crystalline insulators: a platform for intrinsic core-shell nanowires and higher-order topology
• Topological phase diagram of Pb1-xSnxSe1-yTey
• Impact of correlations on topology in Kane-Mele model decorated with impurities
• From narrow-gap and semimagnetic semiconductors to spintronics and topological matter: a life with spins