Tunable metal-insulator transition, Rashba effect and Weyl Fermions in a relativistic charge-ordered ferroelectric oxide

Jiangang He, Domenico Sante, Ronghan Li, Xing-Qiu Chen (), James M. Rondinelli () and Cesare Franchini ()
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Jiangang He: Northwestern University
Domenico Sante: Universität Würzburg
Ronghan Li: University of Science and Technology of China
Xing-Qiu Chen: University of Science and Technology of China
James M. Rondinelli: Northwestern University
Cesare Franchini: University of Vienna

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Controllable metal–insulator transitions (MIT), Rashba–Dresselhaus (RD) spin splitting, and Weyl semimetals are promising schemes for realizing processing devices. Complex oxides are a desirable materials platform for such devices, as they host delicate and tunable charge, spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedoms. Here, using first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis, we identify an electric-field tunable MIT, RD effect, and Weyl semimetal in a known, charge-ordered, and polar relativistic oxide Ag2BiO3 at room temperature. Remarkably, a centrosymmetric BiO6 octahedral-breathing distortion induces a sizable spontaneous ferroelectric polarization through Bi3+/Bi5+ charge disproportionation, which stabilizes simultaneously the insulating phase. The continuous attenuation of the Bi3+/Bi5+ disproportionation obtained by applying an external electric field reduces the band gap and RD spin splitting and drives the phase transition from a ferroelectric RD insulator to a paraelectric Dirac semimetal, through a topological Weyl semimetal intermediate state. These findings suggest that Ag2BiO3 is a promising material for spin-orbitonic applications.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02814-4

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