Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 51: Topological Insulators: Theory (HL with DS/MA/O/TT)

O 51.3: Talk

Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 10:00–10:15, ER 270

Topological phases in (interfacial) phase-change materials — •Peter Schmitz, Wei Zhang, and Riccardo Mazzarello — Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics, RWTH Aachen University

We investigate the topological, spectral and structural properties of [Sb₂Te₃]_x[GeTe]_y (GST) compounds, some of which are interfacial phase change materials (IPCMs), as a function of strain and stacking sequence by performing a DFT study of bulk and slab models and discuss the relevance of a 3D (topological) Dirac semimetal phase ((T)DSM), eg. to GST225.
IPCMs can perform fast reversible transitions, induced by electric fields or heat, between crystalline states of different stacking. Since they also possess strong spin-orbit coupling and a strong topological insulator (STI) + normal insulator(NI) layering, they are a promising platform to investigate nontrivial interface states and direct applications to data storage in terms of switching topological phases. Until now they were shown to exhibit STIs and unstable DSM-like critical states corresponding to STI/NI transitions [1]. Then recently [2] a robust TDSM phase was predicted for crystals having certain rotational symmetries: The STI/NI transition point can be extended to a line and 2 Dirac points appear in the bulk spectrum.
Analyzing whether such phases can be obtained in GST compounds is also interesting since the problem of a TDSM in a multilayer structure has not yet been discussed.
[1] J. Tominaga et al, Adv. Mat. Inter. 1 (2014);
[2] B. Yang and N. Nagaosa, Nature Commun. 5, 4898 (2014)