Ferroelectrically tunable topological phase transition in InSe thin films
arXiv:2402.18274 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.109.085432
Abstract
Materials with ferroelectrically switchable topological properties are of interest for both fundamental physics and practical applications. Using first-principles calculations, we find that stacking ferroelectric -InSe monolayers into a bilayer leads to polarization-dependent band structures, which yields polarization-dependent topological properties. Specifically, we find that the states with interlayer ferroelectric couplings are quantum spin Hall insulators, while those with antiferroelectric polarizations are normal insulators. We further find that InSe trilayer and quadlayer exhibit nontrivial band topology as long as in the structure the ferroelectric InSe bilayer is antiferroelectrically coupled to InSe monolayers or other ferroelectric InSe bilayer. Otherwise the system is topologically trivial. The reason is that near the Fermi level the band structure of the ferroelectric InSe bilayer has to be maintained for the nontrivial band topology. This feature can be used to design nontrivial band topology for the thicker films by a proper combination of the interlayer polarization couplings. The topological properties can be ferroelectrically tunable using the dipole locking effect. Our study reveals switchable band topology in a family of natural ferroelectrics, which provide a platform for designing new functional devices.
12 pages, 12 figures
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