Signatures of emergent surface states across a displacive topological phase transition in Bi$_4$I$_4$
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866912569146474496 |
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| author | Roy, Deep Singha Kalimuddin, Sk Pachhal, Subrata Mondal, Saikat Das, Soham Jana, Sukanya Bera, Arnab Bera, Satyabrata Debnath, Tuhin Bag, Ankan Pramanik, Souvik Chatterjee, Sudipta Naskar, Sanjib Pandey, Shishir Kumar Agarwala, Adhip Mondal, Mintu |
| author_facet | Roy, Deep Singha Kalimuddin, Sk Pachhal, Subrata Mondal, Saikat Das, Soham Jana, Sukanya Bera, Arnab Bera, Satyabrata Debnath, Tuhin Bag, Ankan Pramanik, Souvik Chatterjee, Sudipta Naskar, Sanjib Pandey, Shishir Kumar Agarwala, Adhip Mondal, Mintu |
| contents | Topological phase transitions involving crystalline symmetry breaking provide a fertile ground to explore the interplay between symmetry, topology, and emergent quantum phenomena. Recently discovered quasi-one-dimensional topological material, Bi$_4$I$_4$, has been predicted to host topologically non-trivial gapless surfaces at high temperature, which undergo a finite temperature phase transition to a low temperature gapped phase. Here we present experimental signatures of this room temperature phase transition from a high-temperature $β$-phase with a surface state to a gapped $α$-phase hosting hinge states. Using real-space current mapping and resistance fluctuation spectroscopy, we identify signatures of a displacive topological phase transition mediated by a first-order thermodynamic structural change. Near the emergence of $β$-phase, we observe pronounced telegraphic noise, indicating fluctuating phase domains with topological surface states. The spatially resolved current map reveals electron transport via the gapless surface states in the $β$-phase, which vanishes upon transitioning to the $α$-phase with localized conduction channels (or hinge modes). Our experimental results, supported by first principles estimates and effective theory of a topological displacive phase transition, establish Bi$_4$I$_4$ as a candidate material showing intricate interplay of classical thermodynamic phase transitions with topological quantum phenomena. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_03469 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Signatures of emergent surface states across a displacive topological phase transition in Bi$_4$I$_4$ Roy, Deep Singha Kalimuddin, Sk Pachhal, Subrata Mondal, Saikat Das, Soham Jana, Sukanya Bera, Arnab Bera, Satyabrata Debnath, Tuhin Bag, Ankan Pramanik, Souvik Chatterjee, Sudipta Naskar, Sanjib Pandey, Shishir Kumar Agarwala, Adhip Mondal, Mintu Strongly Correlated Electrons Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Materials Science Topological phase transitions involving crystalline symmetry breaking provide a fertile ground to explore the interplay between symmetry, topology, and emergent quantum phenomena. Recently discovered quasi-one-dimensional topological material, Bi$_4$I$_4$, has been predicted to host topologically non-trivial gapless surfaces at high temperature, which undergo a finite temperature phase transition to a low temperature gapped phase. Here we present experimental signatures of this room temperature phase transition from a high-temperature $β$-phase with a surface state to a gapped $α$-phase hosting hinge states. Using real-space current mapping and resistance fluctuation spectroscopy, we identify signatures of a displacive topological phase transition mediated by a first-order thermodynamic structural change. Near the emergence of $β$-phase, we observe pronounced telegraphic noise, indicating fluctuating phase domains with topological surface states. The spatially resolved current map reveals electron transport via the gapless surface states in the $β$-phase, which vanishes upon transitioning to the $α$-phase with localized conduction channels (or hinge modes). Our experimental results, supported by first principles estimates and effective theory of a topological displacive phase transition, establish Bi$_4$I$_4$ as a candidate material showing intricate interplay of classical thermodynamic phase transitions with topological quantum phenomena. |
| title | Signatures of emergent surface states across a displacive topological phase transition in Bi$_4$I$_4$ |
| topic | Strongly Correlated Electrons Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Materials Science |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.03469 |