In recent years, topological semimetals/metals, including nodal point, nodal line, and nodal surface semimetals/metals, have been studied extensively because of their potential applications in spintronics and quantum computers. In this study, we predict a family of materials, Zr 3 X (X = Al, Ga, In), hosting the nodal loop and nodal surface states in the absence of spin-orbit coupling. Remarkably, the energy variation of the nodal loop and nodal surface states in Zr 3 X are very small, and these topological signatures lie very close to the Fermi level. When the effect of spin-orbit coupling is considered, the nodal loop and nodal surface states exhibit small energy gaps (<25 and 35 meV, respectively) that are suitable observables that reflect the spin-orbit coupling response of these topological signatures and can be detected in experiments. Moreover, these compounds are dynamically stable, and they consequently form potential material platforms to study nodal loop and nodal surface semimetals.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.