Schoop, L.M.; Ali, M.N.; Strasser, C.; Topp, A.; Varykhalov, A.; Marchenko, D.; Duppel, V.; Parkin, S.S.P.; Lotsch, B.V.; Ast, C.R.: Dirac cone protected by non-symmorphic symmetry and three-dimensional Dirac line node in ZrSiS. Nature Communications 7 (2016), p. 11696/1-7
10.1038/ncomms11696
Open Access Version
Abstract:
Materials harbouring exotic quasiparticles, such as massless Dirac and Weyl fermions, have garnered much attention from physics and material science communities due to their exceptional physical properties such as ultra-high mobility and extremely large magnetoresistances. Here, we show that the highly stable, non-toxic and earth-abundant material, ZrSiS, has an electronic band structure that hosts several Dirac cones that form a Fermi surface with a diamond-shaped line of Dirac nodes. We also show that the square Si lattice in ZrSiS is an excellent template for realizing new types of two-dimensional Dirac cones recently predicted by Young and Kane. Finally, we find that the energy range of the linearly dispersed bands is as high as 2 eV above and below the Fermi level; much larger than of other known Dirac materials. This makes ZrSiS a very promising candidate to study Dirac electrons, as well as the properties of lines of Dirac nodes.