Surface induced electronic Berry curvature in bulk Berry curvature free materials

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

In recent years it has become clear that electronic Berry curvature (BC) is a key concept to understand and predict physical properties of crystalline materials. A wealth of interesting Hall-type responses in charge, spin and heat transport are caused by the BC associated to electronic bands inside a solid: anomalous Hall effects in magnetic materials, and various nonlinear Hall and Nernst effects in non-magnetic systems that lack inversion symmetry. However, for the largest class of known materials –non-magnetic ones with inversion symmetry– electronic BC is strictly zero. Here we show that precisely for these bulk BC-free materials, a finite BC can emerge at their surfaces and interfaces. This immediately activates certain surfaces in producing Hall-type transport responses. We demonstrate this by first principles calculations of the BC at bismuth, mercury-telluride (HgTe) and rhodium surfaces of various symmetries, revealing the presence of a surface Berry curvature dipole and associated quantum nonlinear Hall effects at a number of these. This opens up a plethora of materials to explore and harness the physical effects emerging from the electronic Berry curvature associated exclusively to their boundaries.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number101027
JournalMaterials today physics
Volume33
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2023
Peer-reviewedYes