Magnetic wallpaper Dirac fermions and topological magnetic Dirac insulators

Abstract

Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) can host anomalous surface states which inherits the characteristics of crystalline symmetry that protects the bulk topology. Especially, the diversity of magnetic crystalline symmetries indicates the potential for novel magnetic TCIs with distinct surface characteristics. Here, we propose a topological magnetic Dirac insulator (TMDI), whose two-dimensional surface hosts fourfold-degenerate Dirac fermions protected by either the pc′4mm or p4 ′g′m magnetic wallpaper group. The bulk topology of TMDIs is protected by diagonal mirror symmetries, which give chiral dispersion of surface Dirac fermions and mirror-protected hinge modes. We propose candidate materials for TMDIs including Nd4Te8Cl4O20 and DyB4 based on first-principles calculations, and construct a general scheme for searching TMDIs using the space group of paramagnetic parent states. Our theoretical discovery of TMDIs will facilitate future research on magnetic TCIs and illustrate a distinct way to achieve anomalous surface states in magnetic crystals. © 2023, The Author(s).