Silkin, I. V., Menshchikova, T. V., Otrokov, M. M., Eremeev, S. V., Koroteev, Yu. M., Garcia Vergniory, M., Kuznetsov, V. M., Chulkov, E. V.
Natural sulfur-containing minerals as topological insulators with a wide band gap
JETP Letters 96, (5),pp 322-325 (2012)
The electronic structure of quaternary natural minerals PbBi2Te2S2 (aleksite), Pb2Bi2Te2S3 (saddlebackite), and PbBi4Te4S3 (C phase) has been theoretically studied. These compounds have a layered structure: aleksite and saddlebackite are formed by seven and ninelayer blocks, respectively, and C phase consists of five and sevenlayer blocks separated by van der Waals gaps. It has been shown that all studied materials are three dimensional topological insulators with a wide band gap in the electronic spectrum and have a high spin polarization. For these reasons, they are promising for applications.
TH-2012-53