Topological phase transition in a single material usually refers to transitions between a trivial band insulator and a topological Dirac phase, and the transition may also occur between different classes of topologica...Topological phase transition in a single material usually refers to transitions between a trivial band insulator and a topological Dirac phase, and the transition may also occur between different classes of topological Dirac phases.It is a fundamental challenge to realize quantum transition between Z_2 nontrivial topological insulator（TI） and topological crystalline insulator（TCI） in one material because Z_2 TI and TCI have different requirements on the number of band inversions. The Z_2 TIs must have an odd number of band inversions over all the time-reversal invariant momenta, whereas the newly discovered TCIs, as a distinct class of the topological Dirac materials protected by the underlying crystalline symmetry, owns an even number of band inversions. Taking PbSnTe_2 alloy as an example, here we demonstrate that the atomic-ordering is an effective way to tune the symmetry of the alloy so that we can electrically switch between TCI phase and Z_2 TI phase in a single material. Our results suggest that the atomic-ordering provides a new platform towards the realization of reversibly switching between different topological phases to explore novel applications.展开更多
基金Supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China under Grant No 2016YFB0700700the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)under Grants Nos 11634003,11474273,61121491 and U1530401+1 种基金supported by the National Young 1000 Talents Plansupported by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS(2017154)
文摘Topological phase transition in a single material usually refers to transitions between a trivial band insulator and a topological Dirac phase, and the transition may also occur between different classes of topological Dirac phases.It is a fundamental challenge to realize quantum transition between Z_2 nontrivial topological insulator（TI） and topological crystalline insulator（TCI） in one material because Z_2 TI and TCI have different requirements on the number of band inversions. The Z_2 TIs must have an odd number of band inversions over all the time-reversal invariant momenta, whereas the newly discovered TCIs, as a distinct class of the topological Dirac materials protected by the underlying crystalline symmetry, owns an even number of band inversions. Taking PbSnTe_2 alloy as an example, here we demonstrate that the atomic-ordering is an effective way to tune the symmetry of the alloy so that we can electrically switch between TCI phase and Z_2 TI phase in a single material. Our results suggest that the atomic-ordering provides a new platform towards the realization of reversibly switching between different topological phases to explore novel applications.
