Strain-tunable type-II to type-III & Gimbal nodal line transition in Imm2-phase of Cu$_2$SnS$_3$: An ab-initio study

Abstract

Topological nodal line semimetals (NLSMs) represent an intriguing quantum phase, opening new avenues in materials science for practical applications such as anisotropic transport devices, high-mobility conductors, unconventional thermoelectrics, and nonlinear optical devices. Recently, Cu$_2$SnS$_3$ has been theoretically proposed as a type-II NLSM, with its Fermi surface containing only one nodal ring. Here, we demonstrate how uniaxial, equi-biaxial, and equi-triaxial strains affect the nodal line state of the $Imm2$-phase of Cu$_2$SnS$_3$ by using state-of-the-art ab-initio calculations. Under the application of uniaxial compressive strain (UCS) along the a-direction, the plane of the nodal line evolves from the $k_x$-$k_z$ to $k_y$-$k_z$ for 6\%$\leq$UCS$\leq$8\%. In contrast, under uniaxial tensile strain (UTS), the nodal line remains in the ($k_x$-$k_z$) plane across the entire studied range of UTS. Interestingly, on the application of equi-biaxial tensile strain (EBTS) along a-b (a-c) directions, it hosts only one nodal ring below 8\% ($<$6\%), which further evolves into three (seven) nodal-ring for EBTS of 8\% (6\%$\leq$EBTS$\leq$8\%). Upon the application of EBTS along a-c directions, we found two sets of three mutually orthogonal, intersecting nodal loops (topological gimbals). Apart from this, under the application of equi-biaxial compressive strain (EBCS) along the a-b (a-c) directions, it exhibits only one nodal ring up to 8\% (7\%). Beyond this, the nodal line completely vanishes and does not reappear at higher values of EBCS. Under equi-triaxial tensile strain (ETTS), Cu$_2$SnS$_3$ exhibits only one nodal-ring $<$6\%, which subsequently transforms into five nodal-ring for 6\%$\leq$ETTS$\leq$8\%. However, under the application of equi-triaxial compressive strain (ETCS), as in EBCS, only one nodal line exists up to 6\% ETCS.