Pressuring the low-temperature orthorhombic phase with a non-trivial topological state of Ru2Sn3 to room temperature

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that applying pressure to Ru2Sn3 can stabilize its orthorhombic phase with a non-trivial topological state up to room temperature, offering a pathway to room-temperature topological insulators.

Contribution

We show that pressure can extend the stability of the topological phase in Ru2Sn3 to room temperature, contrasting with typical 3D topological insulators.

Findings

Orthorhombic phase stability increases with pressure.

Topological state persists up to ~20 GPa.

Pressure stabilizes the phase at room temperature.

Abstract

We report high pressure studies of the structural stability of Ru2Sn3, a new type of three dimensional topological insulator (3D-TI) with unique quasi-one dimensional Dirac electron states throughout the surface Brillouin zone of its one-atmosphere low temperature orthorhombic form. Our in-situ high-pressure synchrotron x-ray diffraction and electrical resistance measurements reveal that upon increasing pressure the tetragonal to orthorhombic shifts to higher temperature. We find that the stability of the orthorhombic phase that hosts the non-trivial topological ground state can be pushed up to room temperature by an applied pressure of ~ 20 GPa. This is in contrast to the commonly known 3D-TIs whose ground state is usually destroyed under pressure. Our results indicate that pressure provides a possible pathway for realizing a room-temperature topological insulating state in Ru2Sn3.