Topologically nontrivial electronic states in CaSn3

Sunny Gupta, Rinkle Juneja, Ravindra Shinde, Abhishek Kumar Singh*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Based on the first-principles calculations, we theoretically propose topologically non-trivial states in a recently experimentally discovered superconducting material CaSn3. When the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is ignored, the material is a host to three-dimensional topological nodal-line semimetal states. Drumhead like surface states protected by the coexistence of time-reversal and mirror symmetry emerge within the two-dimensional regions of the surface Brillouin zone connecting the nodal lines. When SOC is included, unexpectedly, each nodal line evolves into two Weyl nodes (W1 and W2) in this centrosymmetric material. Berry curvature calculations show that these nodes occur in a pair and act as either a source or a sink of Berry flux. This material also has unique surface states in the form of Fermi arcs, which unlike other known Weyl semimetals forms closed loops of surface states on the Fermi surface. Our theoretical realization of topologically non-trivial states in a superconducting material paves the way towards unraveling the interconnection between topological physics and superconductivity.
I. INTRODUCTION
Original languageEnglish
Article number214901
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume121
Issue number21
Early online date1 Jun 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Jun 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

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