- Open Access
Electronic structure associated with nonsymmorphic nodal lines in rare-earth tetraborides
Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043067 – Published 19 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/n9xl-chqq
Abstract
We report a combined microfocused angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles study of the rare-earth tetraborides , which host a Shastry-Sutherland lattice. We identify extended bulk nodal lines at the tetragonal Brillouin-zone boundaries, whose fourfold degeneracies are enforced by the nonsymmorphic glide-mirror symmetries even in the presence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC), unlike conventional nodal lines that SOC typically gaps. Systematically evolving Dirac-like dispersions resolved by momentum-distribution-curve analysis support this symmetry-enforced nodal line. We further identify a related nodal-line feature that disperses toward the Fermi level ; although the calculated SOC-induced gap for this feature (0.2–4.6 meV) lies below the experimental resolution, its proximity to offers a band-structure basis consistent with the emergence of large magnetoresistance. First-principles Wilson-loop calculations establish a nontrivial Berry phase for the bulk nodal line, and we observe a photon-energy-independent surface-derived feature whose dispersion is consistent with the calculated surface state. Our results identify as a platform for nonsymmorphic-symmetry-enforced nodal-line physics with potential relevance to large magnetoresistance and topological surface states.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
- Dirac fermions
- Giant magnetoresistance
- Surface states
- Symmetry protected topological states
- Topological phases of matter
- Antiferromagnets
- Borides
- Nodal-line semimetals
- Topological materials
- Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
- Band structure methods
- Density functional theory
- First-principles calculations
- Photoelectron emission microscopy
- Wannier function methods
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Article Text
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