Stability of the X-Y-phase of the two-dimensional C4 point group insulator

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability of surface states in a two-dimensional C4 insulator with X-Y symmetry, showing robustness under certain conditions and localization when Rashba spin-orbit coupling is present.

Contribution

It extends the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model to analyze the stability of surface states in topological crystalline insulators with C4 symmetry.

Findings

Surface states are robust if the S_z spin component is conserved.

Rashba spin-orbit coupling destroys surface state protection.

Surface states localize despite crystalline symmetry preservation with Rashba coupling.

Abstract

Noninteracting insulating electronic states of matter can be classified according to their symmetries in terms of topological invariants which can be related to effective surface theories. These effective surface theories are in turn topologically protected against the effects of disorder. Topological crystalline insulators are, on the other hand, trivial in the sense of the above classification but still possess surface modes. In this work we consider an extension of the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model that describes a topological crystalline insulator. We explicitly show that the surface properties of this state can be as robust as in topologically nontrivial insulators, but only if the $S_z$-component of the spin is conserved. However, in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling this protection vanishes and the surface states localize, even if the crystalline symmetries are intact on average.