文章基本信息

标题：Superlattice valley engineering for designer topological insulators
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作者：Xiao Li ; Fan Zhang ; Qian Niu 等
期刊名称：Scientific Reports
电子版ISSN：2045-2322
出版年度：2014
卷号：4
DOI：10.1038/srep06397
出版社：Springer Nature
摘要：A topological insulator is a novel state of quantum matter, characterized by symmetry-protected Dirac interfacial states within its bulk gap. Tremendous effort has been invested into the search for topological insulators. To date, the discovery of topological insulators has been largely limited to natural crystalline solids. Therefore, it is highly desirable to tailor-make various topological states of matter by design, starting with but a few accessible materials or elements. Here, we establish that valley-dependent dimerization of Dirac surface states can be exploited to induce topological quantum phase transitions, in a binary superlattice bearing symmetry-unrelated interfacial Dirac states. This mechanism leads to a rich phase diagram and allows for rational design of strong topological insulators, weak topological insulators, and topological crystalline insulators. Our ab initio simulations further demonstrate this mechanism in [111] and [110] superlattices of calcium and tin tellurides. While our results reveal a remarkable phase diagram for the binary superlattice, the mechanism is a general route to design various topological states.