Mirror Protected Multiple Nodal Line Semimetals and Material Realization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new systematic method for constructing effective lattice models of mirror symmetry protected multiple nodal line semimetals, and proposes real material candidates supporting these exotic Fermi surfaces.

Contribution

It develops a comprehensive approach to model multiple nodal line semimetals beyond the conventional k.p method and identifies real materials with these properties.

Findings

New lattice models for multiple nodal line semimetals

Identification of beta phase ternary nitrides as candidate materials

Deeper understanding of nodal line structures

Abstract

The conventional k.p method fails to capture the full and essential physics of many symmetry enriched multiple nodal line structures in the three dimensional Brillouin zone. Here we present a new and systematical method to construct the effective lattice model of mirror symmetry protected three-dimensional multiple nodal line semimetals, when the spin-orbit interaction is ignored. For systems with a given pair of perpendicular nodal rings, we obtain all the effective lattice models and eleven inequivalent nodal line Fermi surfaces together with their related constraints. By means of first-principles calculations, we first propose a family of real materials, beta phase of ternary nitrides X2GeN2 (X = Ca; Sr; Ba), that support one kind of these novel Fermi surfaces. Therefore, our work deepens the understanding of the nodal line structures and promotes the experimental progress of topological nodal line semimetals.