Coexistence of type-II Dirac point and weak topological phase in Pt 3 Sn

Intriguing topological phases may appear in both insulating and semimetallic states. Topological insulators exhibit topologically nontrivial band inversion, while topological Dirac/Weyl semimetals show “relativistic” linear band crossings. Here, we report an unusual topological state of Pt3Sn, where the two topological features appear simultaneously. Based on first-principles calculations, we show that Pt3Sn is a threedimensional weak topological semimetal with topologically nontrivial band inversion between the valence and conduction bands, where the band structure also possesses type-II Dirac points at the boundary of two electron pockets. The formation of the Dirac points can be understood in terms of the representations of relevant symmetry groups and the compatibility relations. The topological surface states appear in accordance with the nontrivial bulk band topology. The unique coexistence of the two distinct topological features in Pt3Sn enlarges the material scope in topological physics, and is potentially useful for spintronics. Disciplines Engineering Physics | Materials Science and Engineering | Metallurgy This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ameslab_manuscripts/36 PHYSICAL REVIEW B 96, 205107 (2017) Coexistence of type-II Dirac point and weak topological phase in Pt3Sn Minsung Kim, Cai-Zhuang Wang, and Kai-Ming Ho Ames Laboratory, U.S. DOE and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA (Received 6 March 2017; revised manuscript received 19 October 2017; published 6 November 2017) Intriguing topological phases may appear in both insulating and semimetallic states. Topological insulators exhibit topologically nontrivial band inversion, while topological Dirac/Weyl semimetals show “relativistic” linear band crossings. Here, we report an unusual topological state of Pt3Sn, where the two topological features appear simultaneously. Based on first-principles calculations, we show that Pt3Sn is a three-dimensional weak topological semimetal with topologically nontrivial band inversion between the valence and conduction bands, where the band structure also possesses type-II Dirac points at the boundary of two electron pockets. The formation of the Dirac points can be understood in terms of the representations of relevant symmetry groups and the compatibility relations. The topological surface states appear in accordance with the nontrivial bulk band topology. The unique coexistence of the two distinct topological features in Pt3Sn enlarges the material scope in topological physics, and is potentially useful for spintronics. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.96.205107