Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators on the Pyrochlore Lattice
Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators on the Pyrochlore Lattice
Electrons hopping on the sites of a three-dimensional pyrochlore lattice are shown to form topologically non-trivial insulating phases when the spin-orbit (SO) coupling and lattice distortions are present. Of 16 possible topological classes 9 are realized for various parameters in this model. Specifically, at half-filling undistorted pyrochlore lattice with SO …