Topological Hourglass Dirac Semimetal in the Nonpolar Phase of Ag$_2$BiO$_3$

Abstract

Materials with tunable charge and lattice degrees of freedom provide excellent platforms for investigating multiple phases that can be controlled via external stimuli. We show how the charge-ordered ferroelectric oxide Ag$_2$BiO$_3$, which has been realized experimentally, presents a unique exemplar of a metal-insulator transition under an external electric field. Our first-principles calculations, combined with a symmetry analysis, reveal the presence of a nearly ideal hourglass-Dirac-semimetal state in the nonpolar structure of Ag$_2$BiO$_3$. The low-energy band structure consists of two hourglasslike nodal lines located on two mutually orthogonal glide-mirror planes in the absence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effects. These lines cross at a common point and form an interlinked chainlike structure, which extends beyond the first Brillouin zone. Inclusion of the SOC opens a small gap in the nodal lines and results in two symmetry-enforced hourglasslike Dirac points on the $\tilde{\mathcal{C}}_{2y}$ screw rotation axis. Our results indicate that Ag$_2$BiO$_3$ will provide an ideal platform for exploring the ferroelectric-semiconductor to Dirac-semimetal transition by the application of an external electric field.