Unraveling the Topological Phase of ZrTe${}_5$ via Magneto-infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

For materials near the phase boundary between weak and strong topological insulators (TIs), their band topology depends on the band alignment, with the inverted (normal) band corresponding to the strong (weak) TI phase. Here, taking the anisotropic transition-metal pentatelluride ZrTe${}_5$ as an example, we show that the band inversion manifests itself as a second extremum (band gap) in the layer stacking direction, which can be probed experimentally via magneto-infrared spectroscopy. Specifically, we find that the band anisotropy of ZrTe${}_5$ features a slow dispersion in the layer stacking direction, along with an additional set of optical transitions from a band gap away from the Brillouin zone center. Our work identifies ZrTe5 as a strong TI at liquid helium temperature and provides a new perspective in determining band inversion in layered topological materials.

with supplemental materials

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Cited by in corpus (25)

• Dirac Polarons and Resistivity Anomaly in ZrTe5 and HfTe5
• Topological Lifshitz transition and one-dimensional Weyl mode in HfTe5
• Temperature dependence of the energy band gap in ZrTe${}_5$: implications for the topological phase
• Quantum oscillations and three-dimensional quantum Hall effect in ZrTe${}_5$
• Gap-opening transition in Dirac semimetal ZrTe${}_5$
• Gate-tunable multiband transport in ZrTe5 thin devices
• Gapped Dirac semimetal with mixed linear and parabolic dispersions
• Revealing temperature evolution of the Dirac band in ZrTe${}_5$ via magneto-infrared spectroscopy
• Unconventional optical selection rules in ZrTe5 under an in-plane magnetic field
• Magnetic field driven Lifshitz transition and one-dimensional Weyl nodes in three-dimensional pentatellurides
• Magneto-optic signatures in the gapped Dirac semimetal with mixed linear and parabolic dispersions of ZrTe5
• Theory of anomalous Hall effect in transition-metal pentatelluride ${\mathrm{ZrTe}}_5$ and ${\mathrm{HfTe}}_5$
• Extremely low-energy collective modes in a quasi-one-dimensional system
• Landau quantization in tilted Weyl semimetals with broken symmetry
• Abrupt switching of the anomalous Hall effect by field-rotation in nonmagnetic ZrTe5
• Magneto-optical evidence of tilting effect in coupled Weyl bands
• Spin-Triplet Excitonic Insulator in the Ultra-Quantum Limit of HfTe5
• Quantum theory of the magnetochiral anisotropy coefficient in ZrTe${}_5$
• Magneto-transport evidence for strong topological insulator phase in ZrTe5
• Isotropic Dirac fermion and anomalous oscillator strength of zeroth Landau level transition
• Quasi-Dirac points in electron-energy spectra of crystals
• Spectral analysis of the magneto-optical response in valley polarized Pb${}_{1-x}$Sn${}_x$Se
• Robust large-gap topological insulator phase in transition-metal chalcogenide ZrTe${}_4$Se
• Nernst Plateau in the Quantum Limit of Low-Carrier-Density Topological Insulators
• Optical manipulation of the topological phase in ZrTe5 revealed by time- and angle-resolved photoemission