Experimental evidence of crystal symmetry protection for the topological nodal line semimetal state in ZrSiS

Abstract

Tunable symmetry breaking plays a crucial role for the manipulation of topological phases of quantum matter. Here, through combined high-pressure magneto-transport measurements, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, we demonstrate a pressure-induced topological phase transition in nodal-line semimetal ZrSiS. Symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations suggest that this pressure-induced topological phase transition may be attributed to weak lattice distortions by non-hydrostatic compression, which breaks some crystal symmetries, such as the mirror and inversion symmetries. This finding provides some experimental evidence for crystal symmetry protection for the topological semimetal state, which is at the heart of topological relativistic fermion physics.

27 pages, 17 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells
• Weyl semimetal phase in non-centrosymmetric transition metal monophosphides
• Non-symmorphic band degeneracy at the Fermi level in ZrSiTe
• Breakdown of Three-dimensional Dirac Semimetal State in pressurized Cd3As2
• Tuning the electronic and the crystalline structure of LaBi by pressure
• Possible pressure-induced topological quantum phase transition in the nodal line semimetal ZrSiS

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Topological Semimetal Candidate NdSbTe
• Indications for Lifshitz transitions in the nodal-line semimetal ZrSiTe induced by interlayer interaction
• Anisotropic Berry phase in the Dirac nodal-line semimetal ZrSiS: The effect of spin-orbit coupling
• Evolution of Electronic and Magnetic Properties in Topological Semimetal SmSbxTe2-x
• Pressure-induced excitations in the out-of-plane optical response of the nodal-line semimetal ZrSiS
• Evolution of Magnetoresistance in the magnetic topological semimetals NdSbxTe2-x
• Chalcogen Doping Effect on the Insulator-to-Metal Transition in GdPS
• Increasing the number of topological nodal lines in semimetals via uniaxial pressure
• Nodal-line driven anomalous susceptibility in ZrSiS