2011/09/30 by M. S. Bahramy, B. -J. Yang, B.-J. Yang +4 · 259 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Condensed matter physics #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #Gapless playback #Physics #Point reflection #Surface (topology) #Surface states #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Topological insulator #Topology (electrical circuits) #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms1679
published in Nature Communications 3(1), 679 (Nature Portfolio) · 5 figures are included
arxiv created 2012/02/14 · openalex publication_date 2012/02/14 · arxiv updated 2012/02/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The spin-orbit interaction affects the electronic structure of solids in various ways. Topological insulators are one example where the spin-orbit interaction leads the bulk bands to have a non-trivial topology, observable as gapless surface or edge states. Another example is the Rashba effect, which lifts the electron-spin degeneracy as a consequence of spin-orbit interaction under broken inversion symmetry. It is of particular importance to know how these two effects, i.e. the non-trivial topology of electronic states and Rashba spin splitting, interplay with each other. Here we show, through sophisticated first-principles calculations, that BiTeI, a giant bulk Rashba semiconductor, turns into a topological insulator under a reasonable pressure. This material is shown to exhibit several unique features such as, a highly pressure-tunable giant Rashba spin splitting, an unusual pressure-induced quantum phase transition, and more importantly the formation of strikingly different Dirac surface states at opposite sides of the material.