We report on a Dirac-like Fermi surface in three-dimensional bulk materials in a distorted spinel structure on the basis of density functional theory (DFT) as well as tight-binding theory. The four examples we provide in this paper are BiZnSiO4, BiCaSiO4, BiMgSiO4, and BiAlInO4. A necessary characteristic of these structures is that they contain a Bi lattice which forms a hierarchy of chain-like substructures, with consequences for both fundamental understanding and materials design.
@article{arxiv.1309.5967,
title = {Bulk Dirac points in distorted spinels},
author = {Julia A. Steinberg and Steve M. Young and Saad Zaheer and C. L. Kane and E. J. Mele and Andrew M. Rappe},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.5967},
year = {2015}
}