Robust dual topological character with spin-valley polarization in a monolayer of the Dirac semimetal Na_3Bi

摘要

Topological materials with both insulating and semimetal phases can be protected by crystalline (e.g., mirror) symmetry. The insulating phase, called a topological crystalline insulator (TCI), has been investigated intensively and observed in three-dimensional materials. However, the predicted two-dimensional (2D) materials with TCI phase are explored much less than 3D TCIs and 2D topological insulators, while the 2D TCIs considered thus far possess almost exclusively a square-lattice structure with the mirror Chern number C_M = -2. Here, we predict theoretically that a hexagonal monolayer of Dirac semimetal Na_3Bi is a 2D TCI with a mirror Chern number C_M = - 1. The large nontrivial gap of 0.31 eV is tunable and can be made much larger via strain engineering, while the topological phases are robust against strain, indicating a high possibility for room-temperature observation of quantized conductance. In addition, a nonzero spin Chern number C_s = - 1 is obtained, indicating the coexistence of a 2D topological insulator and a 2D TCI, i.e., the dual topological character. Remarkably, a spin-valley polarization is revealed in the Na_3Bi monolayer due to the breaking of crystal inversion symmetry. The dual topological character is further explicitly confirmed via the unusual behavior of the edge states under the corresponding symmetry breaking.