Time-reversal symmetry broken quantum spin Hall phase in the van der Waals heterostructure ZrTe5/Cr2Ge2Te6

Xiao, Xiaoliang1,2; Zhan, Fangyang1,2; Kong, Weixiang1,2; Fan, Jing3; Wang, Rui1,2,4,5; Wu, Xiaozhi1,2,4

2022-09-01

10.1088/1367-2630/ac9010

NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS   Impact Factor & Quartile

1367-2630

The topological phases with time-reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking have always attracted intense studies due to their potential applications to spintronics. The previous studies mainly focused on the exploration of quantum anomalous Hall effects, but another typical TRS-broken two-dimensional topological phase, i.e., the TRS-broken quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect, has rarely been proposed in realistic materials. Here, based on first-principles calculations and topology analysis, we show that the van der Waals heterostructure ZrTe5/Cr2Ge2Te6 can realize the robust TRS-broken QSH state. We utilize the topological edge states and spin Hall conductance, which can be measured in experiments directly, to confirm the appearance of TRS-broken QSH phase. Moreover, we uncover that the built-in electric field is essential to realize such topological state and an external electric field can effectively tune the nontrivial band gap. Our findings not only provide a reliable candidate to obtain the TRS-broken QSH phase with a high tunability but also can facilitate further applications to topological quantum transport.

time-reversal symmetry broken topological phase realistic material

SCI

English

Others

Natural Science Foundation of China["12174040","12147102"] ; Chongqing Natural Science Foundation[cstc2020jcyj-msxmX0118]

Physics

Physics, Multidisciplinary

WOS:000857447500001

IOP Publishing Ltd

PHYSICS

Web of Science

1.Chongqing Univ, Inst Struct & Funct, Chongqing 401331, Peoples R China
2.Chongqing Univ, Dept Phys, Chongqing 401331, Peoples R China
3.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Ctr Computat Sci & Engn, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
4.Chongqing Key Lab Strongly Coupled Phys, Chongqing 401331, Peoples R China
5.Chongqing Univ, Ctr Quantum Mat & Devices, Chongqing 401331, Peoples R China

Xiao, Xiaoliang,Zhan, Fangyang,Kong, Weixiang,et al. Time-reversal symmetry broken quantum spin Hall phase in the van der Waals heterostructure ZrTe5/Cr2Ge2Te6[J]. NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS,2022,24(9).

Xiao, Xiaoliang,Zhan, Fangyang,Kong, Weixiang,Fan, Jing,Wang, Rui,&Wu, Xiaozhi.(2022).Time-reversal symmetry broken quantum spin Hall phase in the van der Waals heterostructure ZrTe5/Cr2Ge2Te6.NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS,24(9).

Xiao, Xiaoliang,et al."Time-reversal symmetry broken quantum spin Hall phase in the van der Waals heterostructure ZrTe5/Cr2Ge2Te6".NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS 24.9(2022).