Single-Spin Dirac Fermion and Chern Insulator Based on Simple Oxides

It is highly desirable to combine recent advances in the topological quantum phases with technologically relevant materials. Chromium dioxide (CrO2) is a half-metallic material, widely used in high-end data storage applications. Using first-principles calculations, we show that a novel class of half semimetallic Dirac electronic phase emerges at the interface CrO2 with TiO2 in both thin film and superlattice configurations, with four spin-polarized Dirac points in momentum-space (k-space) band structure. When the spin and orbital degrees of freedom are allowed to couple, the CrO2/TiO2 superlattice becomes a Chern insulator without external fields or additional doping. With topological gaps equivalent to 43 K and a Chern number ±2, the ensuing quantization of Hall conductance to ±2e(2)/h will enable potential development of these highly industrialized oxides for applications in topologically high fidelity data storage and energy-efficient electronic and spintronic devices.