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The bulk-boundary correspondence is a key concept in topological quantum materials. For instance, a quantum spin Hall insulator features a bulk insulating gap with gapless helical boundary states protected by the underlying Z2 topology. However, the bulk-boundary dichotomy and distinction are rarely explored in optical experiments, which can provide unique information about topological charge carriers beyond transport and electronic spectroscopy techniques. Here, we utilize mid-infrared absorption micro-spectroscopy and pump-probe micro-spectroscopy to elucidate the bulk-boundary optical responses of Bi4Br4, a recently discovered room-temperature quantum spin Hall insulator. Benefiting from the low energy of infrared photons and the high spatial resolution, we unambiguously resolve a strong absorption from the boundary states while the bulk absorption is suppressed by its insulating gap. Moreover, the boundary absorption exhibits a strong polarization anisotropy, consistent with the one-dimensional nature of the topological boundary states. Our infrared pump-probe microscopy further measures a substantially increased carrier lifetime for the boundary states, which reaches one nanosecond scale. The nanosecond lifetime is about one to two orders longer than that of most topological materials and can be attributed to the linear dispersion nature of the helical boundary states. Our findings demonstrate the optical bulk-boundary dichotomy in a topological material and provide a proof-of-principal methodology for studying topological optoelectronics., Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures

Nodal monoloop, enjoying the cleanest scenario with a single loop, is recognized as the basic building block of intricate linked loops including chains, nets, and knots. Here, we explore the interplay of magnetic ordering and band topology in one system by introducing a brand-new quantum state, referred to as Weyl monoloop semi-half-metal, which is characterized by a single loop at the Fermi level stemming from the same spin channel. Such a nodal line Fermion, yielding 100% spin polarization, is protected by mirror ( M z ) symmetry. As a prominent example, a realistic rutile-type metal fluorides LiV2F6 achieves the hitherto unmaterialized state, featuring fully spin-polarized ultraflat surface states. More interestingly, LiV2F6 has a "soft" ferromagnetic property, which is one of the desired systems to control the anomalous Hall effect by rotating the magnetization direction. Our findings offer a promising candidate for exploring the topology and magnetism with intriguing effects.

We present a systematic investigation of the magnetoresponses of the Weyl points (WPs) with a topological charge of n = 2, 3 and 4, and with both linear and quadratic energy tilt. The linear tilt always tends to squeeze the Landau levels (LLs) of both conduction and valence bands of all the WPs, and eventually leads to LL collapse in the type-II phase. However, the quadratic energy tilt has more complex influences on the LLs of the unconventional WPs. For charge-n (n = 2, 4) WP, the influence of the quadratic tilt on the LLs of conduction and valence bands are opposite, i.e. if the LLs of conduction (valence) bands are squeezed, then that of the valence (conduction) bands are broadened, and the squeezed LL spectrum will be collapsed in type-III phase. But, the LL collapse generally can not be found in the type-III charge-3 WP. Moreover, for charge-n (n = 2, 3) WP, the quadratic tilt breaks the degeneracy of the chiral LLs regardless of the direction of the magnetic field, leading to additional optical transitions and magneto-optical conductivity peaks at low frequencies. Interestingly, the four chiral LLs in charge-4 WP are always not degenerate. Hence, there inevitably exist magneto-optical conductivity peaks at low frequencies for charge-4 WP. Since the density of state of the LL spectrum is very large, one can expect that the low-frequency magneto-optical responses in unconventional WPs would be significant and may be used for developing efficient terahertz photodetectors.

In electronics systems, the Weyl points can be classified into three types based on the geometry of the Fermi surface, and each type exhibits various unique and intriguing phenomena. While the type-I and type-II Weyl points have been achieved in both spinful and spinless systems, the realization of type-III Weyl points remains challenging, and has not been reported in artificial periodic systems. Here, we for the first time report the experimental observation of the type-III Weyl points in a sonic crystal. Remarkably, a single pair of type-III Weyl points are observed as the only band crossings in a frequency range, experimentally disproving a common belief in the field, namely, the minimal number of Weyl points in nonmagnetic systems is four. The consistency between experimental results and theoretical predictions confirms the existence of type-III Weyl points, noncontractible Fermi arc surface states, and chiral edge states. Our work not only fill the gap of the type-III Weyl point in sonic crystal but also stimulate related researches in other systems, such as photonic, mechanical and cold atom systems.

We present a systematic classification of emergent particles in all 528 magnetic layer groups and 394 magnetic rod groups, which describe two-dimensional and one-dimensional crystals respectively. Our approach is via constructing a correspondence between a given magnetic layer/rod group and one of the magnetic space group, such that all irreducible representations of the layer/rod group can be derived from those of the corresponding space group. Based on these group representations, we explicitly construct the effective models for possible band degeneracies and identify all emergent particles, including both spinless and spinful cases. We find that there are six kinds of particles protected by magnetic layer groups and three kinds by magnetic rod groups. Our work provides a useful reference for the search and design of emergent particles in lower dimensional crystals., 7 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables

Unconventional Weyl point with nonlinear dispersion features higher topological charge $|{\cal{C}}|>1$ and multiple topologically protected Fermi arc states at its boundary. As a novel topological state, it has been attracting widespread attention. However, the unconventional Weyl point with $|{\cal{C}}|=3$ has not yet been reported in realistic materials, even though it has been theoretically proposed for more than a decade. In this work, based on first-principles calculations and theoretical analysis, we predict the existing material, $\rm\alpha$-LiIO$_3$ as the first realistic example with this unconventional Weyl point. Particularly, in the phonon spectra of $\rm\alpha$-LiIO$_3$, two Weyl points with ${\cal{C}}=-3$, connected by time-reversal symmetry, appear at the neck crossing-point of a hourglass-type band, leading to two hourglass charge-3 Weyl phonons. The symmetry protection and the associated novel triple- and sextuple-helicoid surface arc states of the hourglass charge-3 Weyl phonons are revealed. Our results uncover a hidden topological character of $\rm\alpha$-LiIO$_3$ and also show that the phonon spectra is a great platform for exploring unconventional topological states.

Topological insulators (TIs) hold promise as a platform for spintronics applications due to the fascinating spin-momentum locking (SML) of the surface states. One particular interest lies in using TIs as spin-polarized sources for spintronics structures. Here, we propose the band tilt induced nonlinear Nernst effect (NLNE) in TIs as a clean and efficient route to generate high-performance spin polarization (SP). We show that in the presence of SML and hexagonal warping effect a finite band tilt can induce an imbalance of two spin carriers and effectively give rise to spin-polarized NLNE current in TIs. In our scheme, both the spin current and charge current regime can be achieved under the thermal drive. The obtainable SP can be efficiently tuned in either a smooth or rapid way, exhibiting highly flexible tunability. In addition, near-unity SP can be generated within a wide range of tunable parameters, which is also found to be robust against temperature. Therefore, our work provides a mechanism to realize controllable room-temperature high-degree SP based on TIs, which is of essential importance for future spintronics applications., The accepted version in PRB Letter

The research on emergent particles in condensed matters has been attracting tremendous interest, and recently it is extended to magnetic systems. Here, we study the emergent particles stabilized by the symmetries of type-IV magnetic space groups (MSGs). Type-IV MSGs feature a special time reversal symmetry $\{\mathcal{T}|\boldsymbol{t}_0\}$, namely, the time reversal operation followed by a half lattice translation, which significantly alters the symmetry conditions for stabilizing the band degeneracies. In this work, based on symmetry analysis and modeling, we present a complete classification of emergent particles in type-IV MSGs by studying all possible (spinless and spinful, essential and accidental) particles in each of the 517 type-IV MSGs. Particularly, the detailed correspondence between the emergent particles and the type-IV MSGs that can host them are given in easily accessed interactive tables, where the basic information of the emergent particles, including the symmetry conditions, the effective Hamiltonian, the band dispersion and the topological characters can be found. According to the established encyclopedia, we find that several emergent particles that are previously believed to exist only in spinless systems will occur in spinful systems here, and vice versa, due to the $\{{\cal T}|\boldsymbol{t}_{0}\}$ symmetry. Our work not only deepens the understanding of the symmetry conditions for realizing emergent particles but also provides specific guidance for searching and designing materials with target particles., Comment: 7pages, 1 figures, 3 tables

In three-dimensional (3D) crystals, emergent particles arise when two or multiple bands contact and form degeneracy (band crossing) in the Brillouin zone. Recently a complete classification of emergent particles in 3D nonmagnetic crystals, which described by the type-II magnetic space groups (MSGs), has been established. However, a systematic investigation of emergent particles in magnetic crystals has not yet been performed, due to the complexity of the symmetries of magnetically ordered structures. Here, we address this challenging task by exploring the possibilities of the emergent particles in the 674 type-III MSGs. Based on effective k.p Hamiltonian and our classification of emergent particles [Yu et al., Sci. Bull. 67, 375 (2022) DOI:10.1016/j.scib.2021.10.023], we identify all possible emergent particles, including spinful and spinless, essential and accidental particles in the type-III MSGs. We find that all emergent particles in type-III MSGs also exist in type-II MSGs, with only one exception, i.e. the combined quadratic nodal line and nodal surface (QNL/NS). Moreover, tabulations of the emergent particles in each of the 674 type-III MSGs, together with the symmetry operations, the small corepresentations, the effective k.p Hamiltonians, and the topological character of these particles, are explicitly presented. Remarkably, combining this work and our homemade SpaceGroupIrep and MSGCorep packages will provide an effcient way to search topological magnetic materials with novel quasiparticles., 8 pages, 1 figure, 3 tables

Motivated by easy access to complete corepresentation (corep) data of all the 1651 magnetic space groups (MSGs) in three-dimensional space, we have developed a Mathematica package MSGCorep to provide an offline database of coreps and various functions to manipulate them, based on our previous package SpaceGroupIrep. One can use the package MSGCorep to obtain the elements of any MSG and magnetic little group, to calculate the multiplication of group elements, to obtain the small coreps at any k-point and full coreps of any magnetic k-star for any MSG and show them in a user-friendly table form, to calculate and show the decomposition of direct products of full coreps between any two specified magnetic k-stars, and to determine the small coreps of energy bands. Both single-valued and double-valued coreps are supported. In addition, the 122 magnetic point groups (MPGs) and their coreps are also supported by this package. To the best of our knowledge, MSGCorep is the first package that is able to calculate the direct product of full coreps for any MSG and able to determine small coreps of energy bands for general purpose. In a word, the MSGCorep package is an offline database and tool set for MSGs, MPGs, and their coreps, and it is very useful to study the symmetries in magnetic and nonmagnetic materials., Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables, 1 supplementary material

The past decade has witnessed a surge of interest in exploring emergent particles in condensed matter systems. Novel particles, emerged as excitations around exotic band degeneracy points, continue to be reported in real materials and artificially engineered systems, but so far, we do not have a complete picture on all possible types of particles that can be achieved. Here, via systematic symmetry analysis and modeling, we accomplish a complete list of all possible particles in time reversal-invariant systems. This includes both spinful particles such as electron quasiparticles in solids, and spinless particles such as phonons or even excitations in electric-circuit and mechanical networks. We establish detailed correspondence between the particle, the symmetry condition, the effective model, and the topological character. This obtained encyclopedia concludes the search for novel emergent particles and provides concrete guidance to achieve them in physical systems., Comment: 5 pages for main text and 1228 pages for SM; comments are welcome, please contact Z. M. Yu, Y. Yao, or S. A. Yang

Topological Weyl semimetals have been attracting broad interest. Recently, a new type of Weyl point with topological charge of four, termed as charge-four Weyl point (C-4 WP), was proposed in spinless systems. Here, we show the minimum symmetry requirement for C-4 WP is point-group $T$ together with $\mathcal{T}$ symmetry or point-group $O$. We establish a minimum tight-binding model for C-4 WP on a cubic lattice with time-reversal symmetry and without spin-orbit coupling effect. This lattice model is a two-band one, containing only one pair of C-4 WPs with opposite chirality around the Fermi level. Based on both the low-energy effective Hamiltonian and the minimum lattice model, we investigate the electronic, optical, and magnetic properties of C-4 WP. Several chirality-dependent properties are revealed, such as chiral Landau bands, quantized circular photogalvanic effect and quadruple-helicoid surface arc states. Furthermore, we predict that under symmetry breaking, various exotic topological phases can evolve out of C-4 WPs. Our paper not only reveals several interesting phenomena associate with C-4 WPs, but also provides a simple and ideal lattice model of C-4 WP, which will be helpful for the subsequent study on C-4 WPs.

Based on the dimension of degeneracy, topological electronic systems can roughly be divided into three parts: nodal point, line, and surface materials corresponding to zero-, one-, and two-dimensional degeneracy, respectively. In parallel to electronic systems, the concept of topology was extended to phonons, promoting the birth of topological phonons. Till date, few nodal point, line, and surface phonon candidates have been predicted in solid-state materials. In this study, based on symmetry analysis and first-principles calculation, we prove that zero-, one-, and two-dimensional degeneracy co-exist in the phonon dispersion of one single realistic solid-state material ${\mathrm{SnO}}_{2}$ with $P{4}_{2}/mnm$ structure. In contrast to the previously reported electronic systems, the topological phonons observed in ${\mathrm{SnO}}_{2}$ are not restricted by the Pauli exclusion principle, and they experience negligible spin-orbit coupling effect. Hence, ${\mathrm{SnO}}_{2}$ with multiple dimensions of degeneracy phonons is a good platform for studying the entanglement among nodal point, line, and surface phonons. Moreover, obvious phonon surface states are visible, which is beneficial for experimental detection.

Topological physics of phonon spectra has been attracting great interest. Using the first-principle calculations and symmetry analysis, we show the realistic ternary nitride ${\mathrm{Li}}_{6}{\mathrm{WN}}_{4}$ features ideal (nearly flat) nodal-surface and nodal-line structures in its phonon spectra. These nodal degeneracies are shaped like lanterns, and their existence is guaranteed by nonsymmorphic symmetry. The corresponding topological phonon surface state covers exactly half the surface Brillouin zone and can thereby be distinguished from those of conventional nodal-line and nodal-surface semimetals. Our study enriches the classification of topological quantum phases, predicts ideal material candidates, and provides a good platform for investigating the interaction between nodal-line and nodal-surface phonons.

Clay minerals, as abundant natural resources, are among the most suitable supporting materials for nano metal. In this manuscript, new Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticle/rectorite (Fe 3 O 4 /rectorite) catalysts are developed via in-situ precipitation oxidation reaction. Various physicochemical characterizations of Fe 3 O 4 /rectorite show that Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles (nano-Fe 3 O 4 ) with an average particle diameter of approximately 10–20 nm are effectively loaded on the surface of acid leached rectorite (Al-rectorite) and have low coaggregation and improved dispersion. Moreover, the catalytic activity of Fe 3 O 4 /rectorite on degradation of P-chlorophenol by heterogeneous Fenton method is studied. Results of degradation experiments show that Fe 3 O 4 /rectorite has higher degradation efficiency of P-chlorophenol than bare nano-Fe 3 O 4 . Regeneration studies also show that Fe 3 O 4 /rectorite maintains 100% of its maximum P-chlorophenol degradation capacity after seven consecutive cycles. Fe 3 O 4 /rectorite can be easily separated by magnetic separation, and thus has good stability and reusability. The degradation mechanism of Fe 3 O 4 /rectorite is adsorption coupled with a Fenton-like reaction, which accounts for P-chlorophenol degradation of up to 625 mg/g. This work demonstrates a new composite material for the effective remediation of refractory organic compounds from wastewater.

In the presence of hexagonal warping (HW), the surface state of a topological insulator (TI) exhibits anisotropic Fermi surface. In this work, we study the transport properties of a TI junction, focusing on the influence of anisotropic effect of the HW on the scattering. We establish general expressions for calculating the scattering with an arbitrary angle between TI surface and the potential step, and find that the transmission probability and conductance have a strong dependence on the angle, making TI junction a promising platform for studying the geometry control of transport. Remarkably, we find that the HW can induce a triple refraction, which gives rise to an anomalous increase of the transmission probability when varying incident angle. The general expressions here for calculating the scattering can be extended to the systems with trigonally and tetragonally warped Fermi surface.

Experimentally synthesized perovskite-type ${\mathrm{YRh}}_{3}\mathrm{B}$ with a $Pm\overline{3}m$ type structure was proposed as a topological material (TM) via first-principles calculations and the low-energy $k\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}p$ effective Hamiltonian, which has a quadratic contact triple point (QCTP) at point $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}$ and six pairs of open nodal lines (NLs) of the hybrid type. Clear surface states observed in the surface spectrum confirmed the topological states. When spin-orbit coupling was considered, the QCTP at $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}$ transferred to the quadratic-type Dirac nodal point (NP). Under $1%$ tetragonal strained lattice constants, ${\mathrm{YRh}}_{3}\mathrm{B}$ hosted richer topological states, including a quadratic-type twofold degenerate NP, six pairs of open NLs of the hybrid type, and two closed NLs of type I and hybrid type. Moreover, it was proved that the NLs of ${\mathrm{YRh}}_{3}\mathrm{B}$ at its strained lattice constants contain all types of band-crossing points (BCPs) (i.e., type I, type II, and critical type). Such rich types of NP and NL states in one compound make it potentially applicable for multifunctional electronic devices as well as an appropriate platform to study entanglement among topological states.

We present a Mathematica program package MagneticTB, which can generate the tight-binding model for arbitrary magnetic space group. The only input parameters in MagneticTB are the (magnetic) space group number and the orbital information in each Wyckoff positions. Some useful functions including getting the matrix expression for symmetry operators, manipulating the energy band structure by parameters and interfacing with other software are also developed. MagneticTB can help to investigate the physical properties in both magnetic and non-magnetic system, especially for topological properties., 16 pages, 3 figures

We propose a new concept of two-dimensional (2D) Dirac semiconductor which is characterized by the emergence of fourfold degenerate band crossings near the band edge and provide a generic approach to realize this novel semiconductor in the community of material science. Based on the first-principle calculations and symmetry analysis, we discover recently synthesised triple-layer (TL)-BiOS2 is such Dirac semiconductor that features Dirac cone at X/Y point, protected by nonsymmorphic symmetry. Due to sandwich-like structure, each Dirac fermion in TL-BiOS2 can be regarded as a combination of two Weyl fermions with opposite chiralities, degenerate in momentum-energy space but separated in real space. Such Dirac semiconductor carries layer-dependent helical spin textures that never been reported before. Moreover, novel topological phase transitions are flexibly achieved in TL-BiOS2: (i) an vertical electric field can drive it into Weyl semiconductor with switchable spin polarization direction, (ii) an extensive strain is able to generate ferroelectric polarization and actuate it into Weyl nodal ring around X point and into another type of four-fold degenerate point at Y point. Our work extends the Dirac fermion into semiconductor systems and provides a promising avenue to integrate spintronics and optoelectronics in topological materials., 5 pages, 3 figures

We propose a class of nodal line semimetals that host an eightfold-degenerate double Dirac nodal line (DDNL) with negligible spin-orbit coupling. We find only 5 of the 230 space groups host the DDNL. The DDNL can be considered as a combination of two Dirac nodal lines, and has a trivial Berry phase. This leads to two possible but completely different surface states, namely, a torus surface state covering the whole surface Brillouin zone and no surface state at all. Based on first-principles calculations, we predict that the hydrogen storage material LiBH is an ideal DDNL semimetal, where the line resides at Fermi level, is relatively flat in energy, and exhibits a large linear energy range. Interestingly, both the two novel surface states of DDNL can be realized in LiBH. Further, we predict that with a magnetic field parallel to DDNL, the Landau levels of DDNL are doubly degenerate due to a Kramers-like degeneracy and have a doubly degenerate zero mode.

We study the possibility of triply-degenerate points (TPs) that can be stabilized in spinless crystalline systems. Based on an exhaustive search over all 230 space groups, we find that the spinless TPs can exist at both high-symmetry points and high-symmetry paths, and they may have either linear or quadratic dispersions. For TPs located at high-symmetry points, they all share a common minimal set of symmetries, which is the point group $T$. The TP protected solely by the $T$ group is chiral and has a Chern number of $\pm2$. By incorporating additional symmetries, this TP can evolve into chiral pseudospin-1 point, linear TP without chirality, or quadratic contact TP. For accidental TPs residing on a high-symmetry path, they are not chiral but can have either linear or quadratic dispersions in the plane normal to the path. We further construct effective $k\cdot p$ models and minimal lattice models for characterizing these TPs. Distinguished phenomena for the chiral TPs are discussed, including the extensive surface Fermi arcs and the chiral Landau bands., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

The surface Fermi arc, as a hallmark of Weyl semimetals (WSMs), has been well known in current research, but it remains a challenge to unveil novel phenomena associated with the Fermi arc. Here, we predict a heretofore unrecognized process in WSMs, namely, the photoinduced transition between the bulk states and the Fermi arc. We find this process is significant and can lead to a large effective three-dimensional shift current on the boundaries with the Fermi arc in wide terahertz range. Moreover, due to the low symmetry of the boundaries, the surface photogalvanic effect predicted here can appear in a large class of WSMs that do not have bulk shift current. Hence, our work not only unveils a hidden photogalvanic effect in WSMs but also suggests that all the WSMs are promising material candidates for developing efficient terahertz photodetectors., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures