Observation of nodal line in non-symmorphic topological semimetal InBi

• Published in: New journal of physics Vol. 19; no. 6; pp. 65007 - 65014
• Main Authors: Ekahana, Sandy Adhitia, Wu, Shu-Chun, Jiang, Juan, Okawa, Kenjiro, Prabhakaran, Dharmalingam, Hwang, Chan-Cuk, Mo, Sung-Kwan, Sasagawa, Takao, Felser, Claudia, Yan, Binghai, Liu, Zhongkai, Chen, Yulin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 03.07.2017
• Subjects: Brillouin zones; CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Conduction bands; Electronic structure; nodal line semimetal; Photoelectric emission; Physics; Spin-orbit interactions; topological material; topological semimetal; Topology; Valence band
• ISSN: 1367-2630; 1367-2630
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/aa75a1

Topological nodal semimetal (TNS), characterized by its touching conduction and valence bands, is a newly discovered state of quantum matter which exhibits various exotic physical phenomena. Recently, a new type of TNS called topological nodal line semimetal (TNLS) is predicted where its conduction and valence band form a degenerate one-dimension line which is further protected by its crystal symmetry. In this work, we systematically investigated the bulk and surface electronic structure of the non-symmorphic, TNLS in InBi (which is also a type II Dirac semimetal) with strong spin-orbit coupling by using angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy. By tracking the crossing points of the bulk bands at the Brillouin zone boundary, we discovered the nodal-line feature along the k z direction, in agreement with the ab initio calculations and confirmed it to be a new compound in the TNLS family. Our discovery provides a new material platform for the study of these exotic topological quantum phases and paves the way for possible future applications.