prof. dr hab. Dariusz Kaczorowski, INTiBS PAN

Rare-earth based half-Heusler phases: from thermoelectrics to topological insulators

Half-Heusler (HH) phases of the general compositions XYZ, where X and Y stand for d- or f-electron transition metals and Z denotes a p-element, form a large family of materials characterized by a variety of different physical and chemical properties, useful in many applications, e.g. in spintronics and green energy harvesting. Due to theirremarkable multifunctionality, easily tunable by small modifications in composition, morphology or external factors,HHphases are commonly called „materials with properties on request”. Recently, new interest in studying rare-earth bearing HHphases was ignited by theoretical predictions of the formation in some of them of nontrivial topological surface states, which results in various unconventional physical phenomena, basically driven by Rashba-typespin-orbit interaction. The combination of non-trivial topology, superconductivity and long-range magnetism makes the HHphaseshighly interesting in regard to novel functionalities, advantageous in quantum computing and/or magnetoelectronics. In this talk, we shall briefly review our own contribution to the blooming subject of rare-earth based HHcompounds. The main focus will be put on (i) their performance as promising thermoelectric materials, as well as (ii) the emergence of superconductivity and long-range magnetism in a few phases considered as putative topological insulators or Dirac/Weyl semimetals.