Design triple points, nexus points and related topological phases by stacking monolayers

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to realize triple points, nexus points, and related topological phases by stacking specific monolayers with certain symmetries, demonstrated through theoretical models and candidate materials.

Contribution

It introduces a stacking strategy for monolayers with C3 symmetry to engineer topological phases like triple and nexus points, supported by a tight-binding model.

Findings

Stacking monolayers with C3 symmetry can produce topological triple and nexus points.

Interactions between layers induce band crossings leading to topological phases.

A tight-binding model explains phase transitions among different topological states.

Abstract

Triple points and nexus points are two interesting topological phases, which have been reported in some three-dimensional (3D) materials. Here, we propose that triple points, nexus points and related phases, such as topological tangle nodal lines, can be obtained by alternatively stacking two types of monolayers. Two conditions for the stacking monolayers are required: the first condition is that they have a three-fold (C3) rotation symmetry and three mirror planes along the C3 axis; the second condition is that one of the monolayers should be insulating while the other one should be metallic (or semiconducting) and has a double degenerate band and a nondegenerate band at {\Gamma}point around the Fermi level. Hexagonal boron nitride (HBN) and {\alpha}/{\alpha}^'-boron sheets ({\alpha}/{\alpha}^'-BS) are suggested as candidate materials. Even if HBN is a wide-gap insulator, the interactions between layers lead to crossings of the nondegenerate and double degenerate bands along the direction normal to the nanosheets, and thus form triple/nexus points or related phases. A tight-binding model is adopted to explain the phase transition between triple points, nexus points and other related phases.