A simple and efficient criterion for ready screening of potential topological insulators
2017
Topological materials are a new and rapidly expanding class of
quantum matter. To date, identification of the topological nature
of a given compound material demands specific determination of the
appropriate topological invariant through detailed electronic structure
calculations. Here we present an efficient criterion that allows ready
screening of potential topological materials, using topological insulators
as prototypical examples. The criterion is inherently tied to the
band inversion induced by spin-orbit coupling, and is uniquely defined
by a minimal number of two elemental physical properties of the constituent
elements: the atomic number and Pauling electronegativity. The validity
and predictive power of the criterion is demonstrated by rationalizing
many known topological insulators and potential candidates in the
tetradymite and half-Heusler families, and the underlying design principle
is naturally also extendable to predictive discoveries of other classes
of topological materials.
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