Emergent Z2 topological invariant and robust helical edge states in two-dimensional topological metals

In this work,we study the effects of disorder on topological metals that support a pair of helical edge modes deeply embedded inside the gapless bulk states.Strikingly,we predict that a quantum spin Hall(QSH)phase can be obtained from such topological metals without opening a global band gap.To be specific,disorder can lead to a pair of robust helical edge states which is protected by an emergent Z2 topological invariant,giving rise to a quantized conductance plateau in transport measurements.These results are instructive for solving puzzles in various transport experiments on QSH materials that are intrinsically metallic.This work also will inspire experimental realization of the QSH effect in disordered topological metals.

Type-II topological metals

Topological metals(TMs)are a kind of special metallic materials,which feature nontrivial band Cross-ings near the Fermi energy,giving rise to peculiar quasiparticle excitations.TMs can be classified based on the characteristics of these band crossings.For example,according to the dimensionality of the crossing,TMs can be classifed into nodal-point,nodal-line,and nodal-surface metals.Another important property is the type of dispersion.According to degree of the tilt of the local dispersion around the crossing,we have typeI and type-II dispersions.This leads to significant distinctions in the physical properties of the materials,owing to their contrasting Fermi surface topologies.In this article,we briefly review the recent advances in this research direction,focusing on the concepts,the physical properties,and the material realizations of the type-Il nodal-point and nodal-line TMs.

[Co(NH_3)_6]_2[Cd_8(C_2O_4)_(11)(H_2O)_4]·8H_2O: A 5-connected sqp topological metal-organic framework co-templated by Co(NH_3)_6^(3+) cation and (H_2O)_4 cluster

In our efforts to construct new metal-organic frameworks （MOFs） by template-directing method, a new cadmium oxalate, [Co（NH3）612[Cds（C204）ll（H20）4].8H20 （denoted HNU-1 ）, has been synthesized under hydrothermal condition in the presence of C0（NH3）6C13, The crystal structure of HNU-1 was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction （monoclinic, C2/c）, a = 11.126（2）A, b = 17.361 （4）,A, c = 16.119（3）A, fi = 102.40（3）, V = 3040.8（10） A and Z = 8. The open framework of HNU-1 contains 12-ring channels and exhibits a 5-connected sqp topological network with dinuclear Cd（ll） clusters acting as nodes. The Co（NH3）63＋ cations and unusual hydrogen-bonded （H20）4 clusters are found in the 12-ring channels with an alternative arrangement. It is believed that the （H20）4 clusters play a co-templating role in the crystallization of HNU-1.

Thermoelectric effects and topological insulators

The recent discovery of topological insulators（TIs） offers new opportunities for the development of thermoelectrics,because many TIs（like Bi2Te3） are excellent thermoelectric（TE） materials.In this review,we will first describe the general TE properties of TIs and show that the coexistence of the bulk and boundary states in TIs introduces unusual TE properties,including strong size effects and an anomalous Seebeck effect.Importantly,the TE figure of merit zT of TIs is no longer an intrinsic property,but depends strongly on the geometric size.The geometric parameters of twodimensional TIs can be tuned to enhance zT to be significantly greater than 1.Then a few proof-of-principle experiments on three-dimensional TIs will be discussed,which observed unconventional TE phenomena that are closely related to the topological nature of the materials.However,current experiments indicate that the metallic surface states,if their advantage of high mobility is not fully utilized,would be detrimental to TE performance.Finally,we provide an outlook for future work on topological materials,which offers great possibilities to discover exotic TE effects and may lead to significant breakthroughs in improving zT.

Topological hierarchy matters — topological matters with superlattices of defects

Topological insulators/superconductors are new states of quantum matter with metallic edge/surface states.In this paper,we review the defects effect in these topological states and study new types of topological matters — topological hierarchy matters.We find that both topological defects（quantized vortices） and non topological defects（vacancies） can induce topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters after considering the superlattice of defects.These topological mid-gap states have nontrivial topological properties,including the nonzero Chern number and the gapless edge states.Effective tight-binding models are obtained to describe the topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters.

Intrinsic magnetic topological materials

Topological states of matter possess bulk electronic structures categorized by topological invariants and edge/surface states due to the bulk-boundary correspondence. Topological materials hold great potential in the development of dissipationless spintronics, information storage and quantum computation, particularly if combined with magnetic order intrinsically or extrinsically. Here, we review the recent progress in the exploration of intrinsic magnetic topological materials, including but not limited to magnetic topological insulators, magnetic topological metals, and magnetic Weyl semimetals. We pay special attention to their characteristic band features such as the gap of topological surface state, gapped Dirac cone induced by magnetization (either bulk or surface), Weyl nodal point/line and Fermi arc, as well as the exotic transport responses resulting from such band features. We conclude with a brief envision for experimental explorations of new physics or effects by incorporating other orders in intrinsic magnetic topological materials.

Growth of high-quality perovskite (110)-SrIrO_3 thin films using reactive molecular beam epitaxy

Recently, 5d transition metal iridates have been reported as promising materials for the manttfacture of exotic quan- tum states. Apart from the semimetallic ground states that have been observed, perovskite SrlrO3 is also predicted to have a lattice-symmetrically protected topological state in the （110） plane due to its strong： spin-orbil coupling and electron correlation. Compared with non-polar （001）-SflrO3, the especial polarity of （110）-SrIrC）3 undoubtedly adds the： difficulty of fabrication and largely impedes the research on its surface states. Here, we have successfully synthesized high-quality （110）-SflrO3 thin films on （110）-SrTiO3 substrates by reactive molecular beam epitaxy fi^r the first time. Both reflec- tion high-energy electron diffraction pattems and x-ray diffraction measurements suggest the expected orientation and outstanding crystallinity. A （1 × 2） surface reconstruction driven from the surface instabiJity, the. same as that reported in （110）-SrTiO3, is observed. The electric transport measurements uncover that （110）-SrIrO3 exhibits a more prominent semimetallic property in comparison to （001）-SrIrO3.

Defect energetics and magnetic properties of 3d-transition-metal-doped topological crystalline insulator SnTe

The introduction of magnetism in SnTe-class topological crystalline insulators is a challenging subject with great importance in the quantum device applications. Based on the first-principles calculations, we have studied the defect energetics and magnetic properties of 3d transition-metal(TM)-doped SnTe. We find that the doped TM atoms prefer to stay in the neutral states and have comparatively high formation energies, suggesting that the uniform TMdoping in SnTe with a higher concentration will be difficult unless clustering. In the dilute doping regime, all the magnetic TMatoms are in the high-spin states, indicating that the spin splitting energy of 3d TM is stronger than the crystal splitting energy of the SnTe ligand. Importantly, Mn-doped SnTe has relatively low defect formation energy, largest local magnetic moment, and no defect levels in the bulk gap, suggesting that Mn is a promising magnetic dopant to realize the magnetic order for the theoretically-proposed large-Chern-number quantum anomalous Hall effect(QAHE) in SnTe.