Topological nodal semimetals

We present a study of ``nodal-semimetal'' phases in which nondegenerate conduction and valence bands touch at points (the ``Weyl semimetal'') or lines (the ``line-node semimetal'') in three-dimensional momentum space. We discuss a general approach to such states by perturbation of the critical point between a normal insulator (NI) and a topological insulator (TI), breaking either time-reversal (TR) or inversion symmetry. We give an explicit model realization of both types of states in a NI-TI superlattice structure with broken TR symmetry. Both the Weyl and the line-node semimetals are characterized by topologically protected surface states, although in the line-node case, some additional symmetries must be…

• NS
  National Science Foundation