Related papers: Combined Fast Reversible Liquid-like Elastic Defor…
Strain can be used as an effective tool to tune the crystal structure of materials and hence to modify their electronic structures, including topological properties. Here, taking Na3Bi as a paradigmatic example, we demonstrated with…
The electric field induced quantum phase transition from topological to conventional insulator has been proposed as the basis of a topological field effect transistor [1-4]. In this scheme an electric field can switch 'on' the ballistic…
Low dimensional fermionic quantum systems are exceptionally interesting because they reveal distinctive physical phenomena, including among others, topologically protected excitations, edge states, frustration, and fractionalization.…
By means of first-principles calculations, we found that the early characterized three-dimensional topological bulk Dirac semimetal of the $P$6$_3$/$mmc$ Na$_3$Bi is dynamically unstable at the ground state due to the presence of the large…
We predict a quantum phase transition from normal to topological insulators in the 5$d$ transition metal oxide Na$_2$IrO$_3$, where the transition can be driven by the change of the long-range hopping and trigonal crystal field terms. From…
Topological insulators are a class of band insulators with non-trivial topology, a result of band inversion due to the strong spin-orbit coupling. The transition between topological and normal insulator can be realized by tuning the…
We report direct experimental evidence of antiferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition under pressure in NaNbO3 using neutron diffraction at room temperature. The paraelectric phase is found to stabilize above 8 GPa and its crystal…
Bismuth has recently attracted interest in connection with Na-ion battery anodes due to its high volumetric capacity. It reacts with Na to form Na$_3$Bi which is a prototypical Dirac semimetal with a nontrivial electronic structure.…
Quasiparticle excitations of free electrons in condensed-matter physics, characterized by the dimensionality of the band crossing, can find their elementary-particle analogs in high-energy physics, such as Majorana, Weyl, and Dirac…
The term "MAX phase" refers to a very interesting and important class of layered ternary transition-metal carbides and nitrides with a novel combination of both metal and ceramic-like properties that have made these materials highly…
Based on first-principles calculations, we show that stoichiometric TaSe3, synthesized in space group P21/m, belongs to a three-dimensional (3D) strong topological insulator (TI) phase with Z2 invariants (1;100). The calculated surface…
Lithium, a prototypical simple metal under ambient conditions, has a surprisingly rich phase diagram under pressure, taking up several structures with reduced symmetry, low coordination numbers, and even semiconducting character with…
BaFe2Se3 (Pnma, CsAg2I3-type structure), recently assumed to show superconductivity at ~ 11 K, exhibits a pressure-dependent structural transition to the CsCu2Cl3-type structure (Cmcm space group) around 60 kbar, as evidenced from…
Topological insulator (TI) represents an unconventional quantum phase of matter with insulating bulk bandgap and metallic surface states. Recent theoretical calculations and photoemission spectroscopy measurements show that Group V-VI…
Crystalline $\rm Bi_2Se_3$ is one of the most explored three-dimensional topological insulator, with a $0.3\;\rm eV$ energy gap making it promising for applications. Its amorphous counterpart could bring to light new possibilities for large…
In twist-bend nematic (N\textsubscript{TB}) liquid crystals (LCs), the mean molecular orientation exhibits heliconical structure with nanoscale periodicity. On the mesoscopic scale, N\textsubscript{TB} resembles layered systems (like…
Driving quantum phase transitions in the 3D topological insulators offers pathways to tuning the topological states and their properties. We use DFT-based calculations to systematically investigate topological phase transitions in…
Three-dimensional (3D) topological Dirac semimetal, when thinned down to 2D few layers, is expected to possess gapped Dirac nodes via quantum confinement effect and concomitantly display the intriguing quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator…
We study with first-principles methods the interplay between bulk and surface Dirac fermions in three dimensional Dirac semimetals. By combining density functional theory with the coherent potential approximation, we reveal a topological…
Elastic and structural properties of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and $\alpha$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ are investigated from first principles. The full elastic tensors and elastic moduli of both phases at $0$ K are computed in the framework of semi-local…