Impurity-induced resonant states in topological nodal-line semimetals

Tao Zhou, Wei Chen, Yi Gao, and Z. D. Wang
Phys. Rev. B 100, 205119 – Published 12 November 2019
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Abstract

Nodal-line semimetals are characterized by a kind of topologically nontrivial bulk-band crossing, giving rise to almost flat surface states. Notably, direct evidence of the surface states is still awaited. Here we theoretically study impurity effects in topological nodal-line semimetals based on the T-matrix method. It is found that some low energy states may be induced near the impurity site for a bulk impurity, while the visible resonant impurity state can only exist for certain impurity strength. For a surface impurity, a robust resonant impurity state exists in a wide parametric range of impurity strength. Such robust resonant state stems from the topologically protected weak dispersive surface states, which can be probed by scanning tunneling microscopy, providing a clear signature of the topological surface states in the nodal-line semimetals.

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  • Received 27 May 2019
  • Revised 22 October 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.205119

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Tao Zhou1,2,*, Wei Chen3,4, Yi Gao5, and Z. D. Wang2,†

  • 1Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, GPETR Center for Quantum Precision Measurement, SPTE, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • 2Department of Physics and Center of Theoretical and Computational Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
  • 3Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
  • 4College of Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
  • 5Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical Physics, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China

  • *tzhou@scnu.edu.cn
  • zwang@hku.hk

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Issue

Vol. 100, Iss. 20 — 15 November 2019

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